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THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE 
IMMIGRANT 


THE  SURVEY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION 

Charles  E.  Adams,  Chairman 

Thomas  G.  Fitzsimons 

Myrta  L.  Jones 

Bascom  Little 

Victor  W.  Sincere 


Arthur  D.  Baldwin,  Secretary 

James  R.  Garfield,  Counsel 

Allen  T.  Burns,  Director 


THE  EDUCATION  SURVEY 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Director 


CLEVELAND  EDUCATION  SURVEY 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE 
IMMIGRANT 


BY 

HERBERT  ADOLPHUS  MILLER 

PROFESSOR    OF    SOCIOLOGY 
OBERLIN    COLLEGE 


THE  SURVEY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 

CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION 

CLEVELAND  •  OHIO 

20  1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 

the  survey  committee  of  the 
cleveland  foundation 


WM'F.  FELL  CO- PRINTERS 
PHILADELPHIA 


>f 


YRL 


°o/00l 


FOREWORD 

This  report  on  "  The  School  and  the  Immigrant " 
is  one  of  the  25  sections  of  the  report  of  the  Edu- 
cation Survey  of  Cleveland  conducted  by  the 
Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Founda- 
tion in  1915.  Twenty-three  of  these  sections 
will  be  published  as  separate  monographs.  In 
addition  there  will  be  a  larger  volume  giving 
a  summary  of  the  findings  and  recommenda- 
tions relating  to  the  regular  work  of  the  public 
schools,  and  a  second  similar  volume  giving 
the  summary  of  those  sections  relating  to  in- 
dustrial education.  Copies  of  all  these  pub- 
lications may  be  obtained  from  the  Cleveland 
Foundation.  They  may  also  be  obtained  from 
the  Division  of  Education  of  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  New  York  City.  A  complete  list 
will  be  found  in  the  back  of  this  volume,  to- 
gether  with  prices. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword  5 

List  of  Tables  9 

List  of  Diagrams  10 

CHAPTER 

I.  Cleveland  as  a  Foreign  City  11 

A  large  proportion  cannot  speak  English  14 

Fewer  become  American  citizens  18 

Summary  20 

II.  School  Children  from  Non-English- 
Speaking  Homes  23 

Number  of  elementary  pupils  who  can 

read  some  foreign  language  28 

Foreign  language  teaching  in  parochial 


III. 


schools 

31 

Wide  variation  in  different  schools 

33 

Summary 

35 

Efforts  of  National  Groups  to  Preserve 

their  Languages 

37 

Bohemians 

39 

Croatians 

40 

Danes 

41 

Germans 

41 

Greeks 

41 

Hebrew  and  Yiddish 

42 

Hungarians 

44 

Italians 

45 

Lithuanians 

46 

Norwegians  and  Swedes 

47 

Poles 

47 

Russians  and  Ruthenians 

48 

Roumanians 

49 

IV. 


VI. 


Serbians 

49 

Slovaks 

50 

Slovenians 

51 

Syrians 

51 

Other  groups 

52 

Use  of  public  school  buildings  by  national 

groups 

52 

Summary 

53 

Characteristics  of  National  Groups 

55 

Bohemians 

59 

Croatians  and  Serbians 

60 

Finns 

61 

Germans 

62 

Jews 

62 

Hungarians 

64 

Italians 

65 

Lithuanians 

66 

Poles 

66 

Russians  and  Ruthenians 

67 

Roumanians 

68 

Slovaks 

69 

Slovenians 

70 

Other  nationalities 

70 

Summary 

71 

Problem  of  Education  for  the  Foreign 

Children 

72 

Steamer  classes 

72 

English-speaking    children    from    non- 

English-speaking  homes 

77 

Summary 

83 

The  Adult  Immigrant  and  the  School 

85 

Evening  schools  for  adult  foreigners 

85 

Citizenship  classes 

87 

Quality  of  instruction  in  evening  schools 

91 

Reorganization  essential 

94 

Summary 

101 

LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  PAGE 

1.  Languages  spoken  in  homes  of  pupils  in  the 

public  schools  25 

2.  Number  of  children  in  the  elementary  schools 

who  can  read  a  foreign  language  29 

3.  Number  of  children  in  the  high  schools  who 

can  read  a  foreign  language  30 

4.  Number  of  pupils  studying  foreign  languages 

in  the  Catholic  schools  33 

5.  Children  in  leading  nationality  groups  in  each 

elementary  school  79-80 

6.  Children  in  leading  nationality  groups  in  each 

high  school  81 

7.  Nationalities  of  evening  school  students  88 

8.  Total   enrollment,    number   belonging,    and 

average   attendance   in   the   evening   ele- 
mentary schools  97 


LIST  OF  DIAGRAMS 

DIAGRAM  PAQB 

1.  Immigration  to  Cleveland  from  Southern  and 

Eastern  Europe  and  all  other  countries        12 

2.  Number  of  people  of  foreign  birth  from  various 

countries  15 

3.  Per  cent  of  the  foreign  population  unable  to 

speak  English  in  10  American  cities  17 

4.  Per  cent  of  the  foreign  male  population  who 

had  not  taken  out  naturalization  papers  in 

10  American  cities  in  1900  and  1910  21 

5.  Children  in  each  grade  from  homes  in  which  a 

foreign  language  is  spoken,  and   number 
from  English-speaking  homes  27 

6.  Distribution  of  pupils  by  nationalities  in  two 

elementary  schools  34 

7.  Total   enrollment,    number   belonging,    and 

average   attendance   in   the   evening   ele- 
mentary schools  during  1915-16  96 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE 
IMMIGRANT 

CHAPTER  I 

CLEVELAND  AS  A  FOREIGN  CITY 

Cleveland  is  one  of  the  most  foreign  cities  in 
the  United  States.  Of  the  50  cities  having  a 
population  of  over  100,000  inhabitants  at  the 
time  of  the  last  census,  only  seven — New  York, 
Chicago,  Boston,  Paterson,  Fall  River,  Lowell, 
and  Bridgeport — contained  a  larger  proportion 
of  foreign  inhabitants.  Cleveland's  foreign 
population  would  constitute  by  itself  a  city 
larger  than  any  other  in  the  state  of  Ohio  ex- 
cept Cincinnati,  and  equalled  or  surpassed  in 
size  by  only  28  other  cities  in  the  entire  country. 
The  rate  of  increase  in  the  foreign  popula- 
tion has  closely  followed  the  general  growth  of 
the  city.  The  proportion  of  foreign  born  in- 
habitants to  the  total  population  has  varied 
but  slightly  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. When  the  census  of  1890  was  taken,  37.5 
per  cent  of  the  total  white  population  was 
foreign.   In  1910  the  proportion  had  decreased 

11 


to  35.5  per  cent,  a  shift  of  only  two  per  cent 
in  20  years. 


1890 
81  per  cent 


1900 
68  per  cent 


1910 
U3  per  cent 


Northwestern  European  and  all  other  Immigration 


Diagram  1. — Proportion  of  the  foreign  born  population  in 
Cleveland  from  the  countries  of  southern  and  eastern  Europe 
and  from  all  other  countries  in  1890,  1900,  and  1910 


Although  the  ratio  of  foreign  to  native  born 
has  been  fairly  constant,  quite  the  contrary  is 

12 


true  with  respect  to  the  sources  from  which  the 
foreign  element  is  drawn.  In  1890  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  all  the  foreign  born  population  of  the 
city  were  from  northern  and  western  Europe, 
and  over  one-third  were  from  countries  in  which 
the  national  language  is  English.  During  the 
last  two  decades  of  the  past  century  the  tide 
of  immigration  shifted  and  there  has  been  an 
ever-increasing  number  of  immigrants  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe,  while  the  pro- 
portion from  English-speaking  countries  stead- 
ily decreased.  This  change  in  the  composition 
of  the  foreign  population  is  shown  graphically 
in  Diagram  1. 

In  1890  there  were  about  71,000  foreigners  in 
Cleveland  from  the  northern  and  western  Euro- 
pean countries.  The  number  increased  to  ap- 
proximately 76,000  in  the  following  decade,  but 
from  1900  to  1910  not  only  was  there  no  in- 
crease, but  the  census  shows  an  actual  loss  of 
nearly  2,000,  although  the  whole  population  of 
the  city  nearly  doubled  during  the  same  period. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  number  drawn  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe,  which  was  about 
18,000  in  1890,  increased  during  the  following 
two  decades  over  600  per  cent,  or  more  than  13 
times  as  rapidly  as  the  general  increase  in  popu- 
lation, reaching  a  total  in  1910  of  nearly  112,000. 
In  1890  natives  of  southern  and  eastern  Euro- 

13 


pean  countries  constituted  less  than  one-fifth  of 
the  total  foreign  population  of  the  city;  in  1910 
they  constituted  nearly  three-fifths  of  the  total. 
The  number  from  each  of  the  principal  coun- 
tries at  the  end  of  the  three  last  census  periods 
—1890,  1900,  and  1910— is  shown  in  Diagram  2. 
In  1890  and  1900,  Germany  led,  with  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking countries — the  British  Isles  and 
Canada — a  close  second.  During  the  decade 
1900-10,  the  immigration  from  Austria,  Hun- 
gary, Russia,  and  Italy  increased  at  a  tremen- 
dous rate,  so  that  in  1910  the  Austrians  led  in 
point  of  numbers,  with  a  total  of  42,059,  an 
increase  of  23,078  over  1900.  During  the  same 
period  the  number  of  Hungarians  increased 
from  9,558  to  31,503,  the  Russians  from  7,726 
to  25,477,  and  the  Italians  from  3,065  to  10,836. 
Of  the  97,000  foreigners  in  Cleveland  in  1890, 
less  than  two-thirds  came  from  non-English- 
speaking  countries;  in  1910  the  proportion  had 
risen  to  considerably  more  than  four-fifths. 


A  Large  Proportion  Cannot  Speak 
English 
Without  going  into  a  detailed  study  of  the  social 
and  educational  characteristics  of  the  old  and 
the  new  immigration,  we  may  take  up  briefly 
two  points  of  peculiar  significance  from  the 

14 


standpoint  of  public  education.  The  first  relates 
to  the  ability  to  speak  English.   The  successful 


\8?0 

1  900 

\9I0 

All  other 
countries 

■  G.Sdorf 

Italy 

635 

3,065 

Russia 

1,482 

L^l^^^B 

Hungary 

^^3^210 

Austria 

^^^^J 

British  Isles 
and  Canada 

^^^^3 

Germany 

B^^M 

^^^^^B 

1  890 

1  900 

|  mo  | 

Diagram  2. — Number  of  people  of  foreign  birth  from  various 
countries  in  1890,  1900,  and  1910 

assimilation  of  the  immigrant,  his  adaptation  to 
American  customs  and  ways  of  thought,  and 

15 


to  a  marked  degree  his  economic  and  social 
status,  depend  on  his  ability  to  read  and  speak 
the  English  language.  Nearly  every  disad- 
vantage under  which  he  labors  during  his  first 
years  in  this  country  can  be  traced  in  the  last 
analysis  to  ignorance  of  English. 

Cleveland's  foreign  population  is  becoming 
increasingly  foreign  from  the  standpoint  of 
ability  to  read,  write,  speak,  and  understand  the 
English  language.  In  1900  less  than  one-fifth 
of  the  foreigners  in  the  city  10  years  old  and 
over  were  unable  to  speak  English;  in  1910  the 
proportion  of  non-English-speaking  foreigners 
had  risen  to  nearly  one-third  of  the  total. 

Diagram  3  shows  a  comparison  of  the  pro- 
portion of  the  white  foreign  population  10  years 
old  and  over  unable  to  speak  English  in  the  10 
cities  of  the  United  States  having  the  largest 
number  of  foreign  inhabitants  in  1910.  In  this 
comparison  Cleveland  stands  at  the  foot  of  the 
list,  with  a  per  cent  of  31.3,  or  nearly  one-third. 
In  proportion  to  its  total  foreign  population 
there  are  over  one  and  one-fourth  as  many 
unable  to  speak  English  as  in  Chicago,  nearly 
one  and  two-fifths  as  many  as  in  New  York,  and 
approximately  three  times  as  many  as  in  Boston. 

There  is  no  obvious  explanation  of  this  ab- 
normal situation.  It  is  true  that  the  greater 
proportion  of  English  and  Irish  immigrants  in 

16 


Boston  and  the  heavy  immigration  from  Can- 
ada in  border  cities  like  Detroit  and  Buffalo  are 
factors  which  make  for  a  low  proportion  of 

Pan  Francisco 

El 

Boston 

i  m 

Philadalphii 
St.  Louis 

El 


New  York 


Chica 


^3 


CLEVELAND 


Diagram  3. — Per  cent  of  the  foreign  population  unable  to 
speak  English  in  the  10  American  cities  having  the  largest 
foreign  population  in  1910 


non-English-speaking  inhabitants  in  those  cities. 
But  this  explanation  does  not  apply  to  such 
cities  as  New  York,  Chicago,  and  St.  Louis, 
2  17 


where  the  proportion  of  immigrants  from  Eng- 
lish-speaking countries  is  practically  the  same 
as  in  Cleveland. 

New  York  more  closely  resembles  Cleveland 
in  the  distribution  of  its  foreign  population 
with  respect  to  country  of  birth  than  any  of 
the  other  cities  compared.  The  proportion  from 
northwestern  Europe  is  almost  exactly  the  same 
in  both  cities;  in  the  proportions  from  southern 
and  eastern  Europe  and  from  English-speaking 
countries  the  differences  are  negligible.  It  is 
almost  inexplicable  in  view  of  the  close  simi- 
larity as  to  country  of  birth  and  language  that 
the  relative  number  of  foreign  born  inhabitants 
unable  to  speak  English  in  Cleveland  should  so 
greatly  outnumber  those  in  New  York.  The 
conclusion  seems  inevitable  that  the  city's  low 
standing  as  to  the  number  of  its  foreign  inhabi- 
tants who  were  unable  to  speak  English  at  the 
time  of  the  last  census  is  not  due  to  such  factors 
as  the  nationality  or  mother  tongue  of  the  vari- 
ous groups  that  make  up  the  foreign  popula- 
tion. 

Fewer  Become  American  Citizens 
There  are  at  the  present  time  between  60,000 
and  65,000  men  in  Cleveland  who  are  not  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States.   Of  every  100  men  of 
voting  age  in  1910,  approximately  30  possessed 

18 


no  political  rights  or  interests  in  this  country 
and  owed  no  allegiance  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  In  no  more  important  re- 
spect does  the  new  immigration  from  southern 
and  eastern  Europe  differ  from  the  old  immigra- 
tion from  northern  and  western  Europe  than  in 
its  tendency  to  cling  to  an  alien  political  status 
and  indifference  to  the  privileges  and  duties  of 
American  citizenship. 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  marked 
change  for  the  worse  in  this  respect  throughout 
the  entire  country,  but  in  few  of  the  larger  cities 
has  the  downward  trend  been  more  pronounced 
than  in  Cleveland.  Of  the  10  American  cities 
having  the  largest  foreign  population  in  1910, 
only  two  —  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburgh  — 
showed  a  higher  proportion  of  foreign  men  who 
had  taken  no  steps  to  obtain  American  citizen- 
ship. In  1900  the  proportion  of  foreign  born 
males  21  years  old  or  over  who  were  naturalized 
or  had  taken  out  their  first  naturalization  papers 
in  Cleveland  was  69  per  cent;  in  1910  it  had 
dropped  to  a  little  over  51  per  cent.  This  falling 
off  in  the  percentage  of  naturalization  was  ex- 
ceeded only  in  Detroit  among  the  10  cities. 
The  per  cent  in  each  city  who  in  1910  had  taken 
no  steps  toward  securing  American  citizenship 
is  shown  graphically  in  Diagram  4,  with  a  cor- 
responding comparison  for  1900.   In  every  case 

19 


St.  Louis 


San  Francisco 


1900 

19151 


Buffalo 


1900 


19101 


Chicago 


130C 


19101 


Boston 


1900 


19101 


Detroit 


1900 


19101 


Hew  York 


1900 


19101 


CLEVELAND 


1900 


19IOI 


Philadelphia 


19C0 


191OI 


Pittsburgh 


L900 


19101 


221 


151 


ES 


llA 


311 


■Piol 


ED 


TJI 


E2 


H 


m 


33L 


F9l 


E2 


[52 


03 


Diagram  4. — Per  cent  of  the  foreign  male  population  21  years 
old  and  over  who  had  not  taken  out  naturalization  papers  in 
the  10  American  cities  having  the  largest  foreign  populations. 
Bars  in  outline  show  the  per  cent  in  1900;  bars  in  black  the 
per  cent  in  1910 

20 


the  figures  show  a  decrease  in  the  proportion 
of  naturalization  although  the  amount  of  varia- 
tion between  the  two  census  periods  differs 
widely.  St.  Louis  leads  with  37  per  cent,  Pitts- 
burgh ranking  lowest  with  51.  Cleveland,  which 
ranks  eighth  among  the  10  cities,  shows  only 
a  slightly  smaller  percentage  of  naturalization 
than  New  York,  but  a  much  greater  loss  for 
the  decade. 

The  present  standing  of  the  city  in  this  par- 
ticular is  less  disquieting  than  the  marked  re- 
trogressive trend  the  data  reveal.  The  fact  that 
the  social  and  political  assimilation  of  the  great 
mass  of  aliens  in  the  city  is  proceeding  at  a 
steadily  decreasing  pace  is  of  the  gravest  import 
in  its  relation  to  the  future  welfare  of  the  city. 


Summary 
Cleveland  is  one  of  the  most  foreign  cities  in  the 
United  States.  The  proportion  of  foreign-born 
has  varied  but  slightly  during  the  past  25  years, 
but  the  proportion  of  foreign  inhabitants  from 
the  countries  of  southern  and  eastern  Europe 
has  increased  very  rapidly,  while  that  from 
northern  and  western  Europe  shows  a  marked 
decrease. 

The  foreign  population  has  become  increas- 
ingly foreign  from  the  standpoint  of  ability  to 

21 


speak  and  read  the  English  language.  In  none 
of  the  10  cities  having  the  largest  number  of 
foreign  inhabitants  at  the  time  of  the  last  census 
was  the  proportion  unable  to  speak  English  so 
large  as  in  Cleveland. 

In  1910  nearly  one-third  of  all  the  men  of 
voting  age  in  Cleveland  were  aliens,  possessing 
no  political  rights  in  this  country  and  owing  no 
allegiance  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States.  Conditions  in  this  respect  are  worse  in 
Cleveland  than  in  most  of  the  larger  cities  of 
the  country. 


22 


CHAPTER  II 

SCHOOL  CHILDREN  FROM  NON-ENGLISH- 
SPEAKING  HOMES 

In  the  course  of  the  Survey  an  investigation  was 
made  to  determine  the  number  of  children  en- 
rolled in  the  public  schools  who  were  from  homes 
in  which  English  is  not  regularly  spoken.  Each 
child  in  the  schools  above  the  kindergarten  age 
was  asked  to  fill  out  a  blank  containing  two 
questions:  first,  "What  is  the  language  of  your 
home?"  and  second,  "What  language  besides 
English  can  you  read?"  It  was  assumed  that 
"the  language  of  the  home"  is  the  one  regularly 
spoken  by  the  child  before  he  goes  to  school 
and  to  a  large  extent  throughout  the  years  he  is 
in  school.  The  results  of  studies  in  other  cities 
have  shown  that  "language  of  the  home"  is 
a  better  index  of  "  f oreignness "  among  school 
children  than  is  furnished  by  the  data  giving 
the  countries  of  birth  of  the  parents. 

The  data  were  collected  from  all  schools  on  a 
single  day,  and  the  totals  represent  the  atten- 
dance for  that  day,  not  the  entire  number  en- 
rolled in  the  schools.  In  all,  replies  were  ob- 
tained from  75,046  children  in  the  elementary 

23 


schools,  and  from  9,088  attending  the  high 
schools.  Almost  exactly  one-half  of  the  children 
in  the  elementary  schools  came  from  homes  in 
which  English  is  not  regularly  spoken.  The 
most  important  of  the  foreign  languages  on  the 
basis  of  number  of  children  reporting  it  as  their 
home  language  was  German.  Yiddish  comes 
next,  with  Bohemian  third.  More  than  four- 
fifths  of  the  foreign  children  were  from  homes 
in  which  either  German,  Yiddish,  Bohemian, 
Italian,  Hungarian,  or  Polish  was  spoken.  Only 
four  other  languages — Slovak,  Slovenian,  Rus- 
sian, and  Hebrew — were  reported  by  more  than 
one  per  cent  of  the  foreign  pupils.  The  distri- 
bution is  shown  in  detail  in  Table  1. 

It  is  probable  that  in  many  cases  the  figures  are 
too  low.  Frequently  it  was  discovered  that  the 
children  replied  "English"  when  the  parents 
only  understood  English,  but  did  not  speak  it. 
Many  foreign  children  wish  to  appear  "Ameri- 
can," even  if  exact  truthfulness  suffers  in  the 
process.  Some  were  especially  reluctant  to 
acknowledge  their  native  language  at  the  pres- 
ent time  on  account  of  the  European  war.  In 
addition  there  are  many  who  have  a  speaking 
knowledge  of  some  foreign  language,  even  when 
English  is  commonly  used  in  the  home.  It  is 
probable  that  the  total  number  who  can  speak 
a  language  other  than  English  is  from  five  to 

24 


TABLE  1.— LANGUAGES  SPOKEN  IN  HOMES  OF  PUPILS  IN  THE 
PUBLIC  SCHOOLS,  CLEVELAND,  1915 


Language 

Elementary 

High 

Total 

English 

37,454 

6,325 

43,779 

German 

8,118 

1,093 

9,211 

Yiddish 

6,219 

576 

6,795 

Bohemian 

5,325 

374 

5,699 

Italian 

4,493 

108 

4,601 

Hungarian 

3,686 

102 

3,788 

Polish 

3,523 

113 

3,636 

Slovak 

1,558 

40 

1,598 

Slovenian 

1,217 

22 

1,239 

Russian 

913 

44 

957 

Hebrew 

656 

120 

776 

Swedish 

328 

40 

368 

Croatian 

218 

218 

Dutch 

173 

"9 

182 

Roumanian 

151 

8 

159 

Lithuanian 

147 

1 

148 

Syrian 

140 

2 

142 

Finnish 

103 

6 

109 

Welsh 

80 

26 

106 

French 

79 

12 

91 

Norse 

59 

8 

67 

Greek 

56 

1 

57 

Danish 

55 

9 

64 

Ruthenian 

43 

43 

Albanian 

40 

"2 

42 

Serbian 

30 

1 

31 

Armenian 

27 

27 

Bulgarian 

17 

17 

Chinese 

15 

"2 

17 

Spanish 

12 

5 

17 

Other  foreign  languages 

111 

23 

134 

Total 

75,046 

9,088 

84,134 

10  per  cent  greater  than  the  returns  obtained 
show. 

The  reluctance  of  the  child  to  confess  his 
foreign  origin  as  he  becomes  older  and  more 
self-conscious  is  no  doubt  responsible  to  some 
extent  for  the  marked  falling  off  in  the  upper 

25 


grades.  This  tendency  is  illustrated  in  Diagram 
5  which  shows  the  number  in  each  grade  from 
English-  and  from  non-English-speaking  homes. 
In  the  first  grade  the  number  of  children  from 
homes  in  which  a  foreign  language  is  spoken 
exceeds  those  from  English-speaking  homes  by 
nearly  28  per  cent.  The  numerical  superiority 
of  the  foreign  group  continues  up  to  the  fifth 
grade,  where  it  drops  considerably  below  the 
English-speaking  group,  with  a  constantly  de- 
creasing ratio  up  to  the  eighth  grade,  in  which 
the  children  from  foreign  language  homes  falls 
to  less  than  63  per  cent  of  the  number  from 
English-speaking  homes. 

Although  this  unfavorable  showing  is  due  in 
some  slight  degree  to  inaccuracies  in  the  replies 
obtained  from  the  children  and  to  the  fact  that 
the  parents  of  the  older  pupils  usually  have  been 
in  this  country  a  considerable  time,  and  there- 
fore are  more  likely  to  have  learned  English, 
the  comparison  undoubtedly  emphasizes  a  con- 
dition that  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind 
in  connection  with  teaching  children  of  foreign 
parentage.  The  average  child  of  foreign  par- 
entage is  not  likely  to  remain  in  school  as  long 
as  the  average  child  of  native  parents,  and  many 
of  them  reach  the  end  of  the  compulsory  at- 
tendance period  before  they  have  completed 
the  elementary  course.   During  the  high  school 

26 


Diagram  5. — Number  of  children  in  each  grade  from  homes  in 
which  a  foreign  language  is  spoken,  and  number  from  English- 
speaking  homes.  Bars  in  black  represent  children  from  for- 
eign homes;  bars  in  outline  children  from  English-speaking 
homes 


27 


period  the  tendency  of  the  child  of  foreign  par- 
ents to  leave  school  is  still  more  in  evidence. 
By  the  fourth  high  school  year  the  number  of 
pupils  from  homes  where  a  foreign  language  is 
spoken  is  reduced  to  less  than  one-third  the 
number  from  English-speaking  families.  Not 
only  do  fewer  pupils  from  foreign  homes  enter 
high  school,  but  a  very  much  smaller  proportion 
complete  the  four-year  course. 


Number  of  Elementary  Pupils  Who  Can 

Read  Some  Foreign  Language 
It  was  found  that  approximately  one-third  of 
the  children  from  foreign-language-speaking 
homes  were  able  to  read  another  language  be- 
sides English.  With  the  exception  of  German, 
which  is  taught  in  the  upper  elementary  grades 
and  in  the  high  school,  this  reading  knowledge 
is  obtained  entirely  outside  of  the  public  school. 
The  figures  of  Table  2  present  the  facts  but  do 
not  include  the  pupils  of  the  first  and  second 
grades,  as  it  is  obvious  that  there  can  be  no 
appreciable  reading  knowledge  below  the  third 
grade. 

German  leads  in  point  of  numbers  and  shows 
a  higher  ratio  to  the  number  of  children  from 
homes  in  which  it  is  spoken  than  any  other 
language  except  Hebrew.    The  ratio  of  those 

28 


TABLE  2.— NUMBER  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOLS  FROM  THE  THIRD  TO  THE  EIGHTH  INCLUSIVE  WHO 
CAN  READ  A  FOREIGN  LANGUAGE,  AND  PER  CENT  THEY 
ARE  OF  THE  NUMBER  IN  THESE  GRADES  FROM  HOMES  IN 
WHICH  EACH  SPECIFIED  LANGUAGE  IS  SPOKEN 


Language 

Number 

Per  cent 

German 

4,901 

90 

Yiddish 

1,479 

36 

Bohemian 

1,278 

36 

Polish 

1,078 

57 

Hungarian 

956 

45 

Hebrew 

925 

222 

Italian 

536 

21 

Slovak 

449 

47 

Russian 

248 

43 

Slovenian 

162 

29 

Swedish 

96 

44 

Croatian 

49 

49 

Dutch 

40 

36 

Roumanian 

26 

32 

Greek 

24 

60 

French 

17 

34 

Syrian 

15 

22 

Finnish 

13 

25 

Norse 

13 

37 

Ruthenian 

12 

55 

Danish 

11 

27 

Lithuanian 

11 

17 

Welsh 

8 

17 

Serbian 

7 

54 

Spanish 

5 

63 

Chinese 

4 

67 

Armenian 

4 

29 

Bulgarian 

3 

38 

Other  foreign  languages 

62 

97 

who  can  read  Hebrew  to  those  who  come  from 
Hebrew-speaking  families  is  more  than  two  to 
one.  Only  a  little  over  one-third  of  the  Yiddish 
and  Bohemian  children  can  read  Yiddish  or 
Bohemian,  while  over  one-half  of  the  Poles  and 
nearly  one-half  of  the  Hungarians  can  read  their 
respective   languages.     Among   the   more   im- 

29 


portant  foreign  groups  the  Italians  show  the 
smallest  proportion  who  can  read  as  well  as 
speak  their  language. 

TABLE  3.— NUMBER  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

WHO  CAN  READ  A  FOREIGN  LANGUAGE,  AND  PER  CENT  THEY 

ARE  OF  THE  NUMBER  IN  THESE  GRADES  FROM  HOMES  IN 

WHICH  EACH  SPECIFIED  LANGUAGE  IS  SPOKEN 


LaDguage 

Number 

Per  cent 

German 

1,790 

164 

Yiddish 

323 

56 

Bohemian 

205 

55 

Hebrew 

112 

90 

Polish 

80 

71 

Hungarian 

78 

70 

Italian 

54 

50 

Slovak 

44 

110 

Swedish 

34 

85 

Russian 

26 

57 

French 

17 

142 

Slovenian 

13 

59 

Dutch 

5 

56    ■ 

Greek 

5 

500 

Welsh 

4 

15 

Norse 

4 

50 

Finnish 

3 

50 

Chinese 

2 

100 

Spanish 

2 

40 

Roumanian 

2 

25 

Serbian 

2 

200 

Lithuanian 

1 

100 

Danish 

1 

11 

Syrian 

1 

50 

Other  foreign  languages 

4 

16 

In  the  high  schools  one  and  two-fifths  times 
as  many  students  read  German  as  there  are 
pupils  from  German-speaking  homes.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  German  is  offered  as  an 
elective  in  the  high  schools.  Over  half  of  the 
enrollment  from  Yiddish  and  Bohemian  families 

30 


and  seven-tenths  from  Polish  and  Hungarian 
families  read  the  language  of  their  parents. 
The  distribution  is  shown  in  detail  in  Table  3. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  percentage  figures  of 
the  lower  part  of  this  table  are  of  little  signifi- 
cance on  account  of  the  small  numbers  involved. 


Foreign  Language  Teaching  in  Parochial 

Schools 
Data  relating  to  private  schools  were  secured 
only  from  those  supported  by  the  Lutherans 
and  the  Roman  Catholics.  The  Lutherans  have 
15  schools,  of  which  one  is  Slovak  and  the  rest 
German.  The  Slovak  school,  enrolling  359 
pupils,  comprises  but  three  grades,  although  it 
is  proposed  to  open  additional  grades  as  soon 
as  capable  teachers  for  them  can  be  secured. 
Eleven  of  the  14  German  schools  reported  an 
attendance  of  2,074  in  all.  The  three  from  which 
data  were  not  secured  are  small  schools,  but  it 
is  doubtless  well  within  the  actual  figures  to 
put  the  total,  in  round  numbers,  at  2,500. 
Nearly  all  of  these  schools  have  eight  grades, 
and  according  to  the  reports  of  high  school 
principals,  they  prepare  their  children  well. 
The  universal  practice  is  to  teach  German  one 
and  a  quarter  hours  a  day  throughout  the  eight 
grades.   Part  of  this  time  is  devoted  to  instruc- 

31 


tion  in  religion.  All  the  pupils  are  able  to  read, 
write,  and  speak  German  easily  when  they 
graduate. 

It  was  somewhat  more  difficult  to  secure  in- 
formation from  the  Catholic  schools,  but  the 
figures  here  presented  are  approximately  cor- 
rect, although  in  many  cases  they  are  probably 
too  low.  Of  the  52  parochial  schools  from  which 
data  were  obtained,  30  may  be  classed  as  foreign 
language  schools.  The  church  itself  has  no  par- 
ticular enthusiasm  for  these  foreign  language 
schools,  enduring  rather  than  fostering  them,  so 
that  the  quality  of  the  work  done  depends  on 
the  interest  and  capacity  of  the  group  which 
each  represents,  rather  than  on  any  determined 
and  standardized  educational  policy  of  the 
church  as  to  foreign  language  work.  This  lack 
of  a  prevailing  purpose  and  aim  in  this  matter 
results  in  considerable  disparity  in  the  relative 
efficiency  of  the  various  schools.  Table  4  shows 
the  number  of  children  enrolled  in  the  foreign 
language  Catholic  schools. 

The  total  enrollment  in  the  Catholic  schools  is 
slightly  over  28,000,  so  that  the  proportion  of 
foreign-language-speaking  children  is  nearly  60 
per  cent.  This,  including  the  2,859  children 
in  the  German  and  Slovak  Lutheran  schools, 
gives  a  total  of  at  least  20,000  foreign-language- 
speaking    children    in    the    parochial    schools. 

32 


Adding  this  number  to  the  enrollment  in  the 
public  schools  gives  a  grand  total  of  approxi- 
mately 57,325  children  from  foreign-language- 
speaking  homes.  Those  from  English-speaking 
homes  enrolled  in  both  public  and  parochial 
schools  number  approximately  50,000. 

TABLE  4.— NUMBER  OF  PUPILS  STUDYING  THE  DIFFERENT 
FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  IN  THE  CATHOLIC  SCHOOLS,  CLEVE- 
LAND, 1915 


Language 

Number  of 
schools 

Pupils 
enrolled 

Polish 

German 

Bohemian 

Slovak 

Slovenian 

Hungarian 

Croatian 

Lithuanian 

6 
7 
5 
5 
3 

2 
1 
1 

4,170 
3,977 
2,850 
2,377 
1,846 

1,300 
352 
260 

Total 

30 

17,172 

The  language  instruction  in  the  parochial 
schools  is  primarily  for  religious  purposes,  and 
is  often  limited  solely  to  that  necessary  for  learn- 
ing the  catechism.  In  a  few  cases  the  priests 
are  ardent  nationalists,  and  make  a  real  attempt 
to  teach  the  language. 


Wide  Variation  in  Different  Schools 
Children  from  foreign-language-speaking  homes 
are  found  in  every  public  school  in  Cleveland. 
3  33 


Doan  School,  with  four  German  children,  three 
Swedes  and  one  Russian  among  795  pupils  en- 
rolled, is  the  least  foreign,  and  Murray  Hill,  with 
1,171  Italians,  five  Albanians  (who  also  speak 
Italian),  and  one  German  in  an  enrollment  of 
1,348,  is  the  most  homogeneously  foreign  of  the 

EASLE  SCHOOL  TREMQWT  SCHOOL 

23 ■ Albanian  .  -  10 
3 1  Armenian  ■  ■  10 

2 1  Bohemian  •  •  j 10 

26  ■  Fngllsh  . .  ■  IHHHHH  276 

01  French |1 

b|  German  ....  Hi^HHHHB  202 

91  Greek |U 

22  ■  Hebrew 1 1 

lUl  Hungarian  .  B20 

! MHMMHHHHHI  Italian  .  .     ■  22 


01  Lithuanian!  17 

3]  Woroe 10 

23H  Polish    ...  ■■■■■■■■■■■|18) 

31  Roumanian  •  10 
16B  Russian  .  ■  ■  ■■■■^■■■■■■■■■m UU3 

2 1  Ruthenian ■  ■  19 

01  Scotch |U 

01  Servian  •  •  •  1 1 

Slovak MHMBMHMB1  266 

I4-!  Slovenian  •  1 1 
QJ  Spanish...  j  2 
^■■B  Syrian 10 

2  I  Welsh |0 

2| Yiddish... I U 

Diagram  6. — Distribution  of  pupils  by  nationalities  in  two  ele- 
mentary schools 

elementary  schools.  Both  the  percentage  of 
foreign  pupils  and  their  distribution  by  na- 
tionality and  language  vary  widely  among  the 
different  schools,  so  that  the  relation  of  racial 
and  linguistic  characteristics  to  teaching  meth- 
ods and  school  management  becomes  a  separate 
problem  for  each  school.  The  comparison  of  the 

34 


foreign  distribution  in  two  of  the  larger  ele- 
mentary schools,  Eagle  and  Tremont,  shown  in 
Diagram  6,  illustrates  this  point  in  a  striking 
way.  The  Italians  are  the  largest  group  in  the 
Eagle  School,  constituting  44  per  cent  of  the 
total  number  in  the  school,  while  in  Tremont 
only  one  per  cent  are  Italians.  In  Tremont  the 
largest  group  is  made  up  of  Polish  children, 
who  constitute  27  per  cent  of  the  total,  as  against 
four  per  cent  in  Eagle. 

Nor  is  the  problem  less  complex  if  only  a 
single  school  is  considered.  Such  schools  as 
Eagle  and  Tremont  are  veritable  melting-pots 
in  which  the  ingredients  show  no  common  lin- 
guistic or  national  elements.  The  proportions 
given  vary  also  within  the  schools  in  the  dif- 
ferent grades  and  from  year  to  year. 


Summary 
Approximately  one-half  the  children  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools  of  Cleveland  and  one-third  in 
the  high  schools  are  from  homes  in  which  some 
foreign  language  is  spoken.  The  children  of 
foreign  parentage  do  not  advance  so  rapidly 
through  the  grades  as  those  of  native  parentage 
and  they  drop  out  much  faster  in  the  upper 
grades.  Approximately  one-third  of  the  chil- 
dren of  foreign  parentage  can  read  as  well  as 

35 


speak  a  foreign  language.  About  20,000  chil- 
dren are  receiving  instruction  in  some  foreign 
language  in  the  parochial  schools  of  the  city. 
The  distribution  of  pupils  of  foreign  parentage 
varies  widely  in  the  different  public  schools  and 
among  the  different  grades  in  single  schools. 


36 


CHAPTER  III 

EFFORTS  OF  NATIONAL  GROUPS  TO 
PRESERVE  THEIR  LANGUAGES 

Each  national  group  expresses  its  group  con- 
sciousness in  varying  degrees  of  effort  to  pre- 
serve its  language  by  providing  more  or  less 
adequate  instruction  for  the  children  in  the 
mother  tongue.  Generally  there  are  very  strong 
traditional  and  historical  reasons  for  devotion 
to  the  language.  Often  the  immigrant  comes 
from  countries  where  attempts  have  been  made 
to  substitute  the  language  of  foreign  rulers  for 
the  mother  tongue  with  the  result  that  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  language  has  become  a  matter 
of  patriotism. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Cleveland  possess  a  reading  and  speaking 
knowledge  of  some  language  other  than  English. 
More  than  one-half  of  the  children  in  the  public 
schools  speak,  and  more  than  one-third  read, 
some  other  foreign  language.  The  economic 
and  social  value  of  this  knowledge  cannot  be 
denied,  and  in  every  case,  excepting  that  of 
German,  it  has  been  obtained  absolutely  with- 

37 


out  cost  to  the  school  system.  The  possibility 
of  conserving  this  economic  and  cultural  asset 
should  not  be  lost  to  sight,  even  though  we 
recognize  that  the  main  duty  of  the  school  is 
to  give  the  child  a  thorough  English  education. 

The  place  of  foreign  languages  in  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  public  schools  has  been  de- 
termined in  the  main  by  custom  and  tradition. 
At  one  time  foreign  language  instruction  was 
limited  almost  exclusively  to  Latin  and  Greek. 
Later  the  study  of  German  and  French  was 
introduced,  and  at  present  considerable  atten- 
tion is  given  to  Spanish  on  account  of  its  alleged 
commercial  value.  The  claims  of  other  lan- 
guages, several  of  which  are  spoken  by  many 
thousands  of  children  and  adults  in  Cleveland, 
are  deserving  of  consideration.  In  addition  to 
their  practical  and  literary  value,  they  have  also 
a  moral  value  in  that  their  preservation  would 
tend  to  soften  the  abrupt  transition  from  foreign 
to  American  ideals  and  ways  of  thought,  and 
to  obviate  the  breakdown  in  parental  control 
and  discipline  often  observed  in  immigrant 
families.  It  is  probable  that  before  many  years 
the  Board  of  Education  will  be  called  upon  to 
decide  whether  or  not  instruction  in  such  lan- 
guages as  Bohemian,  Italian,  Hungarian,  and 
Polish  should  not  be  offered  in  the  high  schools. 

The  following  pages  contain  a  brief  descrip- 
38 


tion  of  the  efforts  now  being  made  by  the  various 
foreign  groups  in  the  city  to  teach  their  lan- 
guages to  the  rising  generation,  with  some  men- 
tion of  the  social  and  educational  organizations 
maintained  by  each  group. 


Bohemians 
The  Bohemians,  who  constitute  one  of  the 
largest  national  groups  in  Cleveland,  are  unre- 
mitting in  their  efforts  to  preserve  their  lan- 
guage. The  work  is  carried  on  by  two  quite 
distinct  groups:  the  Catholics  in  the  parochial 
schools,  and  by  national  organizations  without 
religious  affiliation.  The  majority  of  the  Bo- 
hemians send  their  children  to  the  public  schools, 
but  they  also  maintain  five  private  schools  for 
instruction  in  the  Bohemian  language  and  his- 
tory. The  children  attend  these  schools  for 
three  hours  on  Saturday  or  Sunday.  Each 
school  has  a  separate  organization  but  there  is 
a  central  committee  to  determine  the  curriculum 
and  choose  the  teachers. 

On  Broadway  there  is  a  school  of  300  chil- 
dren in  four  grades;  on  the  west  side  one  having 
about  the  same  number  of  pupils  in  three  grades; 
on  Quincy  Avenue  one  with  200  pupils  in  three 
grades;  on  Rice  Avenue  one  with  75  children 
in  five  grades;  and  at  Mt.  Pleasant  one  with  60 

39 


children  in  three  grades.  There  is  also  a  Sunday 
kindergarten  on  Broadway  with  300  children 
meeting  in  the  afternoon. 

For  older  children  there  is  a  young  people's 
club  maintaining  dramatics,  singing,  and  other 
cultural  activities. 

Among  5,325  Bohemian  children  in  the  ele- 
mentary grades,  1,278  say  that  they  can  read 
Bohemian.  Above  the  first  three  grades  almost 
half  of  them  can  read  the  language  and  in  the 
high  schools  the  proportion  is  almost  two-thirds. 
In  general  this  ability  to  read  Bohemian  is  the 
result  of  the  organized  efforts  of  the  private 
schools  that  have  been  mentioned. 


Croatians 
The  Croatians  belong  to  the  more  recent  immi- 
gration. While  their  numbers  are  small,  their 
community  feeling  is  very  strong.  There  are 
but  218  children  in  the  public  schools.  In  the 
parochial  schools,  which  give  instruction  in  the 
Croatian  language,  there  are  354  children  en- 
rolled. A  society  has  recently  been  formed  among 
the  young  people  of  this  nationality.  Its  mem- 
bers range  in  age  from  six  to  16  years  and  the 
object  of  the  organization  is  to  promote  the  study 
of  the  Croatian  language. 


40 


Danes 
There  is  only  a  small  colony  of  Danes  in  Cleve- 
land, and  apart  from  the  Sunday  schools  there 
are  no  regular  exercises  carried  on  in  the  Danish 
tongue.  The  Danes,  like  the  other  Scandi- 
navians, enter  easily  into  the  American  life  and 
readily  adopt  our  customs  and  institutions. 


Germans 
The  status  of  the  Germans  is  different  from  that 
of  any  other  foreign  group.  It  is  the  only  foreign 
language  in  which  instruction  is  given  in  the 
public  elementary  schools.  The  attitude  of  the 
Germans  toward  their  own  language  has  been 
greatly  stimulated  by  the  interest  taken  in  it 
by  non-German-speaking  people.  Altogether 
there  are  in  the  public  schools  some  9,211  chil- 
dren from  German-speaking  families  and  more 
than  half  of  these  young  people  can  read  the 
language  as  well  as  speak  it.  In  addition  there 
are  about  6,500  more  such  children  in  the  Catho- 
lic and  Lutheran  schools. 


Greeks 
There  are  only  57  children  in  the  public  schools 
in  whose  families  Greek  is  regularly  spoken,  and 
of  these  only  24  can  read  the  language.  Within 

41 


the  past  few  years  a  considerable  number  of 
Greek  women  have  come  to  Cleveland  and  in  the 
near  future  the  number  of  Greek  children  in  the 
schools  will  rapidly  increase.  The  Greeks  are 
the  only  foreign  group  in  Cleveland  which  has 
not  formed  any  organization  centering  around 
national  consciousness  and  aspirations. 


Hebrew  and  Yiddish 
The  Hebrew-  and  Yiddish-speaking  children 
should  be  classed  together.  All  who  speak  He- 
brew also  know  Yiddish.  The  number  from  He- 
brew-speaking families  is  776  and  those  from 
Yiddish-speaking  ones  is  6,795,  making  a  total 
of  7,571.  There  are  a  great  many  more  who 
know  how  to  speak  Yiddish,  yet  do  not  regularly 
use  it,  and  still  others  who  belong  to  the  same 
general  group  but  do  not  speak  either  language. 
The  effort  to  maintain  Hebrew  is  so  closely  re- 
lated to  the  religion  of  the  Orthodox  Jews  that 
it  can  hardly  be  separated  from  their  social  and 
religious  lives.  The  orthodox  service  is  con- 
ducted entirely  in  Hebrew  and  from  time  im- 
memorial it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Jews  to 
employ  private  teachers  to  instruct  their  chil- 
dren in  Hebrew. 

In  one  public  school  in  the  Woodland  Avenue 
district  where  more   than   nine-tenths   of   the 

42 


children  are  Jewish,  from  one-half  to  two-thirds 
of  the  pupils  have  had  this  sort  of  private  in- 
struction in  both  Hebrew  and  Yiddish.  The 
instruction  in  the  former  language  is  frequently- 
most  inadequate,  often  consisting  of  simply 
learning  to  read  without  understanding.  When 
one  knows  the  Hebrew  letters,  Yiddish  seems  to 
be  acquired  very  easily.  It  is  a  language  com- 
posed of  elements  of  the  various  languages  of  the 
countries  in  which  the  Jews  have  lived  and  it  is 
now  appropriating  many  English  words. 

Yiddish  literature,  which  is  not  over  50  years 
old,  is  growing  very  rapidly.  There  are  many 
newspapers  in  the  language  and  one  daily — 
"The  Jewish  World" — is  published  in  Cleve- 
land. Interest  in  Hebrew  is  also  reviving  and  it 
is  rapidly  becoming  a  modern  living  language 
instead  of  an  exclusively  classical  and  religious 
one.  There  are  several  newspapers  published 
in  Hebrew  and  a  modern  literature  is  developing. 

There  are  now  in  the  city  three  schools  in 
which  Hebrew  is  taught  by  modern  methods. 
The  oldest  and  largest  one  has  eight  grades  and 
is  located  on  35th  Street,  between  Woodland 
and  Scovill  Avenues.  There  is  another  school 
on  55th  Street  and  one  on  105th  Street.  The 
children  attend  every  afternoon  after  regular 
school  hours,  on  Sundays,  and  all  day  during  the 
summer.    While  the  attendance  is  not  abso- 

43 


lutely  regular,  the  rooms  are  crowded  to  ca- 
pacity. The  instructors  are  mostly  young  men 
who  are  students  in  high  school  or  college  and 
have  been  well  instructed  in  Hebrew  before 
coming  to  America. 

In  the  first  three  grades  the  children  attend 
for  one  and  a  half  hours  a  day,  while  in  the  upper 
classes  the  session  lasts  for  two  and  a  half  hours. 
In  the  winter  months  school  opens  at  about  half 
past  four  and  does  not  close  until  8:30  in  the 
evening.  In  the  summer  months  the  session  is 
from  nine  to  one.  From  500  to  1,000  pupils  are 
enrolled  in  the  largest  school  and  many  more 
desire  to  attend  than  can  be  accommodated. 
These  schools  are  secular  and  while  sympathetic 
with  the  orthodox  religion,  they  are  really  na- 
tionalistic in  purpose. 

There  are  in  addition  several  more  or  less 
modern  schools  connected  with  synagogues. 
The  Zionist  Socialists  conduct  a  school  which 
teaches  Yiddish  and  the  orphan  asylum  on 
Woodland  Avenue  has  classes  in  Hebrew. 


Hungarians 
The  Hungarians,  with  nearly  4,000  children  in 
the  public  schools,  have  a  historical  background 
for  their  devotion  to  their  language,  but  as  yet 
this  has  not  been  thoroughly  organized.   Many 

44 


of  them  are  Catholic,  while  the  rest  belong  to 
several  different  Protestant  denominations.  A 
majority  of  the  children  are  in  the  public  schools 
but  there  are  also  considerable  numbers  in  the 
parochial  schools. 

Three  churches  maintain  classes  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  language,  history,  and  geography  of 
Hungary.  During  the  past  summer  there  were 
seven  classes  with  546  children  enrolled  in  the 
Reformed  Church  on  79th  Street  and  during 
the  other  months  of  the  year  a  school  was  main- 
tained on  Saturday  with  more  than  150  chil- 
dren in  attendance.  Not  all  the  pupils  are  con- 
nected with  this  church.  The  West  Side  Re- 
formed Church  gives  instruction  to  about  100 
children  and  in  the  St.  John  Greek  Catholic 
Church  there  is  a  summer  school  of  four  grades. 
Here  a  few  finish  the  work  in  four  years  while 
the  rest  continue  for  five  or  six  years.  The 
children  are  taught  to  read  and  write  and  to 
sing  their  national  and  religious  songs.  There 
is  no  religious  instruction  in  the  summer  time, 
but  throughout  the  rest  of  the  year  religious 
classes  are  held  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  in 
Hungarian. 

Italians 
There  are  approximately  the  same  number  of 
Italian  children  as  there  are  Hungarian  chil- 

45 


dren,  but  since  the  Italians  have  no  parochial 
schools  their  public  school  enrollment  is  about 
1,000  more  than  that  of  the  Hungarians.  Since 
there  are  no  opportunities  in  the  city  for  learn- 
ing to  read  Italian,  a  large  part  of  the  children 
have  to  get  their  religious  instruction  in  English 
although  they  belong  to  the  Italian  Catholic 
Church.  The  recent  development  of  national 
societies  of  "Sons  and  Daughters  of  Italy"  is 
likely  to  have  considerable  influence  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  national  ideals  and  traditions. 
Some  of  the  older  Italian  children  who  have 
attended  the  public  elementary  and  high  schools 
are  now  taking  up  the  study  of  the  Italian  lan- 
guage. 


Lithuanians 
The  Lithuanians  have  only  148  children  in  the 
public  schools  as  compared  with  260  in  parochial 
schools.  The  Lithuanian  language  belongs  in  the 
same  class  as  the  Hebrew  and  Greek.  In  some 
respects  it  more  nearly  resembles  Sanscrit  than 
any  other  Aryan  language  although  it  has  ap- 
propriated many  Slavonic  words.  It  has  a 
literature  rich  in  poetry  and  folk  lore  and  will 
probably  come  into  greater  importance  in  the 
near  future. 


46 


Norwegians  and  Swedes 
The  Norwegians,  like  the  Danes,  have  only  a 
small  colony  and  maintain  Norwegian  instruc- 
tion in  the  Sunday  schools.  The  Swedes  are 
somewhat  more  numerous,  with  328  children  in 
the  elementary  schools  and  40  in  the  high  schools. 
There  are  five  Protestant  churches  where  the 
services  are  conducted  in  Swedish.  There  is 
also  a  summer  school  with  a  six  weeks'  session 
three  hours  a  day  in  which  instruction  is  given 
in  Swedish.  On  the  whole,  little  effort  is  made  to 
maintain  the  language  after  English  is  learned. 

Poles 
There  is  probably  no  other  people  so  devoted  to 
maintaining  their  language  as  the  Poles.  In 
their  struggle  for  independence  from  Germany 
and  Russia,  their  language  and  their  religion 
have  become  symbols  for  freedom.  It  is  hard  to 
distinguish  between  their  devotion  to  their 
language  and  to  their  church.  It  is  estimated 
that  99  per  cent  of  them  are  Catholics.  More 
than  half  of  their  children  are  in  the  parochial 
schools  and  almost  all  of  those  who  attend  the 
public  schools  also  spend  some  time  in  the  paro- 
chial schools.  It  is  reported  by  the  librarians 
that  the  Polish  children  are  the  only  ones  who 
draw  juvenile  books  in  their  native  language  for 

47 


their  own  reading.  It  is  said  that  pupils  of  other 
nationalities  draw  foreign  books  only  for  their 
parents. 


Russians  and  Ruthenians 
There  are  957  children  in  the  public  schools  who 
claim  to  come  from  homes  where  Russian  is 
spoken  and  43  from  Ruthenian  homes.  Never- 
theless it  is  probable  that  there  are  not  more 
than  100  Russians  from  Great  Russia  in  the 
entire  city.  Almost  all  of  the  Russian-speaking 
families  in  Cleveland  came  from  Galicia  in 
Austria.  Historically  this  belongs  to  what  is 
known  as  "  Little  Russia."  On  the  Russian  side 
of  the  border  the  people  are  called  Ukrainians 
and  on  the  Galician  side  Ruthenians.  There 
are  some  religious  divisions  that  tend  to  draw 
the  two  groups  apart.  The  language  uses  the 
same  alphabet  as  the  Russians,  but  differs  from 
official  Russian  almost  as  much  as  Polish  and 
Serbian  do.  The  people  belong  to  the  Greek 
Catholic  or  Greek  Orthodox  churches  and  send 
their  children  to  the  public  schools.  Both  groups 
maintain  schools  for  teaching  their  own  lan- 
guage. Since  the  religious  services  are  conducted 
in  old  Slavic,  instruction  in  this  language  is 
given  in  the  higher  grades,  while  in  the  lower 
ones  only  Russian  is  taught. 

48 


Roumanians 
Cleveland  has  been  the  leading  Roumanian  city 
in  America  although  it  has  now  dropped  into 
second  place.  There  are  probably  some  10,000 
of  the  people  in  the  city.  Since  most  of  them  are 
recent  arrivals,  there  are  comparatively  few 
of  their  children  in  the  public  schools.  The  num- 
ber reported  is  159,  although  this  must  be  an 
under-statement.  Many  Roumanians  belong 
to  the  Greek  Orthodox  and  Greek  Catholic 
churches  while  others  have  no  religious  affilia- 
tions. Few  of  them  came  from  Roumania  proper, 
but  instead  from  Transylvania  and  Bukowina 
in  Austria-Hungary.  Many  who  learned  Hun- 
garian or  Magyar  in  Hungary  are  now  learning 
Roumanian  in  America  and  it  is  probable  that 
there  will  be  a  great  increase  of  interest  in  the 
language  in  the  near  future. 

Serbians 
The  Serbians  have  only  31  children  in  the  public 
schools,  but  nevertheless  they  are  already  plan- 
ning to  start  a  private  school  in  their  language. 
Except  for  the  alphabet,  their  language  is  identi- 
cal with  that  of  the  Croatians,  but  on  account  of 
the  difference  in  religion  few  of  the  children 
attend  the  Croatian  parochial  school.  A  library 
is  maintained  on  St.  Clair  Avenue  by  the  Ser- 
4  49 


bian  Educational  Society  of  New  York  and  there 
is  talk  of  using  the  library  room  for  a  school 
with  volunteer  teachers.  Almost  none  of  the 
Serbians  come  from  Serbia  proper  but  from 
Austria. 

Slovaks 
There  are  approximately  1,600  Slovak-speaking 
children  in  the  public  schools  and  a  large  num- 
ber in  the  parochial  schools.  The  Slovaks  com- 
ing from  Northern  Hungary  are  like  the  Hun- 
garians in  being  divided  into  Catholics  and 
Protestants,  but  linguistically  and  nationally 
they  are  very  closely  related  to  the  Bohemians. 
Approximately  half  are  Roman  Catholic.  In 
Hungary  they  have  made  a  great  struggle  to 
maintain  their  language,  and  large  numbers  of 
them  have  come  to  America  in  the  past  few 
years  in  order  to  escape  oppression  at  home. 
There  have  been  some  Slovaks  in  Cleveland  for 
20  years  or  more.  Like  the  Roumanians,  many 
of  them  have  learned  to  read  their  language 
since  coming  to  America.  Last  fall  the  Slovak 
paper  published  in  Cleveland  was  changed  from 
a  weekly  to  a  daily.  Most  Slovak  children  study 
Slovak.  The  Protestant  churches  maintain 
afternoon  and  evening  classes  throughout  the 
year.  The  instruction  is  of  a  high  order  and  is 
rapidly  improving. 

50 


Slovenians 
Cleveland  has  a  larger  Slovenian  population 
than  any  other  city  in  America.  Practically  all 
of  these  people  have  come  within  the  past  20 
years  and  many  very  recently.  There  are  1,239 
children  in  the  public  schools  and  a  somewhat 
larger  number  in  the  parochial  schools.  So  far 
no  classes  have  been  organized  for  the  children 
to  learn  the  language  except  in  the  parochial 
schools,  but  the  national  feeling  is  being  rapidly 
developed  and  schools  will  probably  be  estab- 
lished in  the  near  future. 


Syrians 
There  are  only  142  children  from  Syrian-speak- 
ing homes  in  the  public  schools,  but  the  Syrians, 
in  spite  of  their  division  into  four  religious 
groups,  have  a  strong  national  consciousness. 
These  religious  groups  are  the  Catholics,  who 
constitute  about  one-third;  the  Maronites,  who 
are  a  sect  of  the  Catholics;  the  Greek  Orthodox; 
and  a  small  group  of  Mohammedans.  By  mu- 
tual agreement  many  parents  who  had  begun 
to  speak  English  in  the  home  now  speak  only 
Syrian  in  order  that  "  their  children  may  not 
get  away  from  them."  St.  George's  Society  has 
bought  a  house  on  Cedar  Avenue  to  be  used  for 
a  school  as  soon  as  the  money  can  be  raised  to 

51 


maintain  it.  The  majority  of  the  members  of 
this  society  are  Catholics  but  the  activities  of 
the  club  are  not  religious  and  all  divisions  of  the 
people  will  use  the  school. 

Other  Groups 
There  are  several  other  linguistic  groups  in 
Cleveland,  but  they  are  of  less  significance  than 
those  that  have  been  described.  It  is  interesting 
to  observe  in  the  light  of  the  recent  agitation  for 
the  introduction  of  Spanish  into  the  public 
schools  that  there  are  in  the  city  only  17  chil- 
dren from  Spanish-speaking  families. 

Use  of  Public  School  Buildings  by  Na- 
tional Groups 
One  important  problem  which  should  be  faced 
by  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  people  of 
Cleveland  is  the  formulation  of  a  policy  with 
respect  to  offering  the  use  of  public  school  build- 
ings for  the  nationalistic  expressions  of  the  dif- 
ferent groups.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  of  the 
present  report,  it  is  important  that  these  build- 
ings should  be  so  used  more  generally  than  they 
are  at  present.  It  seems  a  pity  for  the  Syrians 
to  purchase  a  house  on  Cedar  Avenue  and  22nd 
Street  in  order  to  teach  their  children  the  Syrian 
language  when  far  better  quarters  are  available 

52 


within  two  blocks  in  the  Eagle  School.  Similarly 
the  Hebrew  building  on  35th  Street  is  used  to  its 
utmost  capacity  for  carrying  on  work  that  could 
be  done  much  better  in  the  evening  in  the  Long- 
wood  School  only  three  doors  away.  Among 
most  of  the  nationalities  there  are  singing  and 
dramatic  societies  and  literary  associations 
which  could  properly  meet  in  public  school 
buildings  and  which  would  in  no  way  interfere 
with  the  regular  work  of  the  schools. 

Summary 
The  different  national  groups  express  their 
group  consciousness  through  varying  degrees 
of  effort  to  preserve  their  languages  by  provid- 
ing instruction  for  the  children  in  the  mother 
tongue.  More  than  half  of  the  school  children 
of  Cleveland  speak  some  foreign  tongue  and  a 
large  proportion  of  them  read  some  language 
other  than  English. 

Most  of  the  important  national  groups  send 
large  numbers  of  their  children  to  parochial 
schools  conducted  in  foreign  languages.  In  addi- 
tion they  maintain  part-time  schools  for  giving 
language  instruction  to  those  of  their  children 
who  attend  the  public  schools.  These  part-time 
schools  hold  sessions  in  the  afternoon,  in  the 
evening,  on  Saturdays,  on  Sundays,  and  during 
the  summer  months. 

53 


Many  of  the  national  groups  are  divided  into 
different  religious  sects  and  some  are  split  into 
political  divisions  having  their  inception  in 
old-world  politics.  In  order  to  understand  the 
social  and  educational  problems  of  the  different 
foreign  groups,  it  is  necessary  to  study  their 
origin  and  history.  The  necessity  for  some 
special  knowledge  of  this  sort  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  many  of  the  immigrants  speak  the 
language  of  one  country  but  come  from  a  differ- 
ent country.  Thus  the  Russian-speaking  chil- 
dren in  our  schools  came  from  Austria;  the 
Roumanians  did  not  come  from  Roumania  but 
from  Austria-Hungary;  and  almost  none  of  the 
Serbians  came  from  Serbia. 


54 


CHAPTER  IV 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  NATIONAL  GROUPS 

There  is  a  current  belief  that  the  prime  qualifi- 
cation of  a  public  school  teacher  is  to  know  cer- 
tain school  subjects  and  how  to  teach  them.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  human 
beings  she  is  teaching  respond  with  great  readi- 
ness to  genuine  sympathy  and  understanding 
and  that  her  real  success  depends  in  no  small 
measure  on  her  personal  relations  with  the  chil- 
dren in  the  school.  The  provincial  self-satisfac- 
tion which  many  teachers  feel  in  their  Ameri- 
canism does  not  help  them  make  good  Ameri- 
cans out  of  their  foreign  pupils.  They  seem  to 
fear  sometimes  that  if  any  affection  for  foreign 
traditions  and  ideals  is  retained,  the  child  is 
likely  to  be  less  American  in  his  sympathies. 
Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  There 
is  the  closest  relation  between  the  central  ideal 
of  Americanism — freedom  and  liberty — and  the 
principal  motive  underlying  the  abandonment 
of  his  native  land  by  the  immigrant. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Germans  and  the 
Italians,  many  of  the  immigrants  come  from 

55 


subject  races  and  they  come  here  primarily  for 
freedom.  It  is  true  that  the  economic  advan- 
tage offered  by  America  is  the  assigned  reason 
for  their  coming,  but  the  fact  that  no  Roumanians 
come  from  Roumania,  no  Serbians  from  Serbia, 
no  Russians  from  Russia,  shows  that  something 
besides  economic  influences  cause  the  emigra- 
tion. Again  and  again,  when  the  immigrant 
has  been  asked  for  a  comparison  between  this 
country  and  his  own,  the  invariable  reply  has 
been  "  America  is  free." 

The  immigrant  is  often  criticized  for  living 
in  segregated  groups.  No  criticism  could  be 
more  unjust.  Is  it  not  perfectly  natural  every- 
where for  social  groups  having  something  in  com- 
mon to  try  to  live  in  the  same  neighborhood? 
Even  should  they  try  to  avoid  segregation,  their 
American  neighbors  would  not  allow  it.  The 
result  is  that  every  effort  is  made  to  keep  them 
from  getting  into  a  new  section.  Nevertheless, 
as  soon  as  the  standard  of  living  is  raised,  we 
find  all  the  nationalities  breaking  away  from  the 
original  colony. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  within  these  vari- 
ous colonies  a  neighborliness  and  social  organi- 
zation which  are  sadly  lacking  in  much  of  our 
modern  society.  A  teacher  should  know  some- 
thing of  the  social  life  to  be  found  within  these 
various  groups,  both  in  order  that  she  may  un- 

56 


derstand  her  pupils  better  and  that  she  may  be 
able  to  use  these  social  forces  to  the  advantage 
of  the  school  and  the  community. 

In  addition  she  ought  to  know  something  of 
the  history  of  the  region  from  which  her  pupils 
or  their  parents  have  come.  If  she  knows  even 
a  few  words  of  their  language,  it  might  prove 
of  inestimable  value  in  establishing  a  sympa- 
thetic relationship  between  the  teachers  and  the 
children,  but  more  especially  between  the  parents 
and  the  school.  A  knowledge  of  the  geography 
of  the  child's  native  land  would  be  an  asset 
to  teacher  and  principal.  From  one  school 
some  children  were  listed  as  speaking  Ukrainian. 
Now  it  is  true  that  very  few  people  know  the 
difference  between  Ruthenian,  Russian,  and 
Ukrainian,  and  in  all  probability  the  children 
themselves  did  not  know.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  Ukrain  is  a  section  of  the  Southwestern 
part  of  Russia  and  the  language  spoken  is  a 
dialect  of  the  Russian  and  is  called  not  Ukrain- 
ian but  either  Little  Russian  or  Ruthenian. 
There  are  at  least  35,000,000  who  speak  this 
language — certainly  enough  to  justify  some 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  as  to  their 
existence,  particularly  since  there  are  over  900 
children  from  this  part  of  Russia  in  the  Cleve- 
land schools. 

Again,  "Slovenian"  figures  in  the  list  of 
57 


languages  used  in  the  investigation  conducted 
by  the  Survey,  and  yet  some  teachers  added 
"Griner."  Even  granting  that  the  children 
do  not  know  the  difference  between  Slovenian 
and  Griner,  certainly  when  there  are  approxi- 
mately 20,000  Slovenians  in  Cleveland  and  over 
1,000  in  the  public  schools,  principals  with  a 
considerable  enrollment  of  Slovenians  ought 
to  know  that  Griner  is  a  name  derived  from 
the  name  of  the  province  of  Krain,  and  that 
the  people  themselves  generally  repudiate  its 
use. 

These  illustrations  show  the  common  indiffer- 
ence of  teachers  who  take  it  for  granted  that  all 
they  need  is  a  knowledge  of  the  subjects  they 
teach.  There  are,  of  course,  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  exceptions.  For  example,  the  principal 
of  one  school  attended  by  many  Italians  speaks 
Italian,  and  the  parents  are  constantly  coming 
to  the  school  for  consultation  about  their  chil- 
dren and  for  general  advice.  Certainly  this 
makes  possible  an  Americanizing  influence 
through  the  school  which  is  far  more  effective 
than  would  be  secured  by  requiring  the  parents 
to  speak  English. 

The  following  pages  contain  a  brief  statement 
as  to  the  national  and  racial  characteristics 
of  the  various  foreign  groups  with  a  few 
suggestions   as  to  supplementary  reading  for 

58 


teachers  in  charge  of  classes  made  up  largely 
of  foreign  children. 


Bohemians 
It  is  impossible  to  understand  the  Bohemians 
in  America  without  some  knowledge  of  Bo- 
hemian history.  They  are  one  of  the  national 
divisions  of  the  Slavs.  The  Bohemians  who 
dwell  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Austria, 
directly  between  Dresden  and  Vienna,  have 
been  the  subject  of  more  German  influence  than 
any  other  Slavic  people,  and  in  many  respects 
are  indistinguishable  from  the  Germans.  In 
1415  the  church  and  the  state  burned  at  the 
stake  John  Huss,  a  Bohemian  priest,  the  first 
martyr  to  religious  freedom.  A  revolt  took 
place  which  made  Bohemia  Protestant  until  the 
Thirty  Years  War,  which  began  in  1618.  After 
that  Catholicism  was  re-established,  and  to  this 
day  embraces  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Bohemia.  In  America,  beginning  more  than  50 
years  ago,  a  reaction  was  organized  until  at  the 
present  time  approximately  two-thirds  of  an 
estimated  million  are  aggressive  free-thinkers. 
In  Cleveland  about  half  are  Catholics  and  the 
rest  free-thinkers,  with  only  a  few  hundred  Prot- 
estants. Both  parties  have  many  organizations 
and,  while  the  feeling  between  the  two  is  very 

59 


strong,  the  common  Slavic  feeling  manifests 
itself  most  strongly  in  antipathy  for  the  German 
language.  The  free-thinkers  are  the  more  na- 
tionalistic, and  fortunately  so,  for  with  the  loss 
of  the  control  of  the  church  there  is  a  tendency 
to  materialism  which  can  be  counteracted  only 
by  devotion  to  some  social  cause.  There  is  no 
group  to  which  the  mother  tongue  and  national 
history  can  have  more  moral  value.  This  is 
in  part  because  their  history  is  peculiarly  rich. 
Commenius,  one  of  the  world's  greatest  edu- 
cators, was  a  Bohemian,  exiled  during  the 
Thirty  Years  War.  The  influence  of  Bohemian 
history  has  been  such  that  the  people  refuse  to 
accept  dogma,  and  even  the  children  argue 
theology. 

The  best  descriptive  book  on  the  Slavs  is 
"Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,"  by  Emily  Green 
Balch,  published  by  the  Charities  Publication 
Committee,  New  York,  1910.  This  deals  with 
both  European  and  American  conditions  for 
Bohemians,  Croatians,  Russians,  Roumanians, 
Ruthenians,  Serbians,  Slovaks,  and  Slovenians. 


Croatians  and  Serbians 
These  two  people  can  be  considered  together. 
Their  spoken  language  is  the  same,  but  the 
Croatians  are  Roman  Catholics  and  use  the 

60 


Latin  alphabet,  while  the  Serbians  are  Greek 
Orthodox  and  use  the  Cryllic  or  Greek  alphabet. 
Most  of  those  in  America  come  from  exactly 
the  same  region  in  southern  Austria-Hungary. 
In  fact  the  census  taker  classifies  them  under 
one  or  the  other  name  solely  by  their  religion. 
They  have  been  dominated  by  the  Hungarians. 
They,  with  the  Slovenians  from  the  adjoin- 
ing Austrian  provinces,  are  group-conscious  as 
South  Slavs,  being  entirely  separated  by  Germans 
and  Hungarians  from  the  North  Slavs — Bo- 
hemians, Slovaks,  and  Poles.  Their  deepest 
purpose  is  freedom. 


Finns 
There  happens  to  be  only  a  small  number  of 
Finns  in  Cleveland,  but  there  are  some  facts 
which  should  be  known  about  them.  Finland 
was  for  six  and  a  half  centuries  ruled  by  Sweden, 
and  since  1809  has  belonged  to  Russia,  but  the 
culture  has  been  continuously  Swedish  until 
almost  the  present  decade.  Now  the  Finn  is 
claiming  his  own  national  individuality  and 
his  language  is  rapidly  replacing  Swedish.  The 
Finnish  language  is  extremely  difficult,  and 
every  Finnish  child  in  the  schools  must  learn 
Russian  and  many  learn  Swedish.  These  lan- 
guages are  all  so  difficult  that  they  can  master 

61 


English  very  quickly.  The  Finns  are  almost  all 
Lutheran,  and  have  decidedly  socialistic  tenden- 
cies which  are  being  abated  somewhat  by  the 
growing  nationalism.  In  cleanliness  they  are 
quite  the  equal  of  the  Dutch.  Helsingfors,  the 
capital  of  Finland,  is  probably  the  cleanest  city 
in  the  world. 

Germans 
A  large  proportion  of  the  Germans  who  come 
from  Germany  have  been  in  America  a  long  time. 
A  majority  of  them  came  for  the  same  purpose 
of  securing  freedom  that  has  influenced  the 
other  groups.  They  belong  to  the  earlier  immi- 
gration and  very  few  have  come  to  this  country 
in  recent  years.  Most  people  are  so  familiar 
with  the  Germans  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  add 
anything  here  except  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  conditions  are  now  tense  and  the 
Germans  are  feeling  a  self-consciousness  which 
the  majority  of  them  did  not  feel  hitherto. 


Jews 
The  most  complex  and  most  variously  regarded 
of  all  our  immigrants  are  the  Jews.  The  earlier 
arrivals  came  from  Germany,  and  many  have 
been  here  for  several  generations  and  occupy 
a  most  important  place  in  American  life.   Later 

62 


many  came  from  Hungary.  With  only  occa- 
sional exceptions,  all  are  proud  of  being  Jews. 
The  commonly  mentioned  "  Jewish  character- 
istics" can  be  explained  in  a  large  measure  by 
conditions  of  economic  and  social  life  under 
which  the  Jew  has  been  constrained  to  live  for 
generations  in  every  country. 

Although  the  Jews  have  religious  expression 
ranging  from  the  extreme  of  orthodoxy  to  the 
extreme  of  liberalism,  there  are  fewer  internal 
conflicts  than  in  most  religions,  for  Judaism  is 
not  so  much  a  dogma  as  it  is  a  progressive  edu- 
cation. Jewish  children  are  eager  pupils,  not 
because  they  are  naturally  brighter  than  others, 
but  because  the  whole  Jewish  life  develops 
mental  alertness  and  the  learned  are  tradition- 
ally respected.  The  religious  forms  are  highly 
organized  and  of  great  historical  as  well  as  con- 
temporary interest.  Every  teacher  should  learn 
the  significance  of  the  14  holidays  that  occur 
during  the  school  year.  Some  effort  should  be 
made  to  understand  what  the  Talmud  deals 
with. 

Linguistically  the  Jews  are  among  the  best 
equipped  people  in  the  world.  They  know 
Hebrew  for  religious  purposes,  Yiddish  for  com- 
mon use,  and  the  language  or  the  languages  of 
the  country  in  which  they  live  for  commercial 
purposes.    Most  Hungarian  Jews  speak  Hun- 

63 


garian  and  German,  and  Slovak  if  from  the 
north,  Roumanian  if  from  the  east;  and  Croatian 
if  from  the  south.  Some  good  books  are:  "The 
Promised  Land,"  by  Mary  Antin,  published  by 
the  Houghton  Mifflin  Company;  " Jewish  Life 
in  Modern  Times,"  by  Cohen,  published  by 
Dodd,  Mead  &  Company;  "The  Jews  in 
America,"  by  Peters,  published  by  the  John 
C.  Winston  Co.;  "Jewish  Ceremonial  Institu- 
tions and  Customs,"  by  Rosenau,  published  by 
the  Friedenwald  Co.,  Baltimore;  "The  Tal- 
mud," by  Darmstetter,  published  by  the  Jew- 
ish Publication  Society,  Philadelphia. 


Hungarians 
Hungarians  should  properly  be  called  Magyars, 
but  they  themselves  have  no  objection  to  the 
name  which  is  derived  from  the  geographical 
district  in  which  something  over  50  per  cent  of 
non-Magyars  live.  As  a  people  they  have  come 
into  national  consciousness  in  comparatively 
recent  times.  Their  nearly  successful  struggle 
for  independence  from  the  Germans  has  given 
them  confidence.  Their  anti-German  feeling 
has  been  strong  and  their  disdain  for  other 
peoples  has  been  striking.  The  result  is  that  a 
large  proportion  of  them  know  no  language  but 
Magyar,  while  many  Slovaks  and  Roumanians 

64 


know  equally  well  their  own  language,  German, 
and  Magyar.  The  Hungarians  have  strong 
Protestant  denominations,  a  large  number  of 
Roman  Catholics,  and  not  a  few  Greek  Cath- 
olics. A  book  full  of  information  but  unsym- 
pathetic with  the  Magyars  is  "Racial  Problems 
in  Hungary,"  by  Scotus  Viator. 


Italians 
Most  of  the  Italians  in  Cleveland,  as  in  the 
United  States,  come  from  southern  Italy, 
following  the  line  of  their  commerce.  From 
northern  Italy  they  follow  their  ship  lines  to 
South  America.  There  are  divisions  among  the 
people  according  to  the  provinces  from  which 
they  come.  Each  province  has  a  somewhat  dis- 
tinctive dialect,  but  since  all  official  business 
is  in  good  Italian,  the  people  understand  it  even 
if  they  do  not  speak  it.  The  large  majority  of 
the  Italians  have  Catholic  traditions,  but  both 
in  Italy  and  in  America  show  only  moderate 
devotion  to  the  church.  Although  there  are 
two  large  Italian  congregations  in  Cleveland, 
it  has  not  been  possible  to  establish  a  parochial 
school.  There  is  no  language  richer  than  Italian 
in  form  or  literary  content,  and  no  history, 
ancient  or  modern,  more  full  of  heroic  incidents 
and  high  ideals. 

5  65 


Lithuanians 
Although  there  are  many  Lithuanians  in  Amer- 
ica, they  are  very  little  known.  Living  in  the 
midst  of  Russian  Poland,  they  are  generally 
thought  to  be  Slavs,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they 
are  a  quite  distinct  nationality  which  for  many 
generations  has  preserved  its  language  and 
many  of  its  traditions,  while  adopting  much 
from  its  Polish  environment.  Like  the  Poles, 
the  Lithuanians  are  Catholics,  but  since  they 
identify  the  church  with  the  Polish  imposition 
of  culture,  they  are  inclined  to  be  lukewarm 
religiously  or  to  go  into  anti-church  organiza- 
tions. In  fact  they  are  often  less  hostile  to  the 
Russians,  who  lay  political  restrictions  on  them, 
than  to  the  Poles,  who  seek  to  make  their  culture 
dominant.  Within  the  past  10  years  there  has 
been  a  remarkable  revival  of  a  nationalism  which 
had  hitherto  seemed  almost  dead.  There  are 
now  several  Lithuanian  newspapers  in  America, 
many  of  whose  subscribers  have  had  to  learn 
to  read  Lithuanian  since  coming  here. 

Poles 
Poland,  divided  into  three  subject  provinces  by 
Germany,  Russia,  and  Austria,  is  fired  by  the 
one  ideal  of  national  freedom.    The  Prussian 
attempt  to  Germanize  her  province  is  the  finest 

66 


illustration  that  society  affords  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  coercive  assimilation.  The  tremendous 
emotionalism  nourished  by  this  Polish  conscious- 
ness has  made  them  highly  idealistic.  It  is 
next  to  impossible  for  the  children  to  feel  the 
controlling  emotions  of  their  parents  and  no 
substitute  has  been  provided  to  take  its  place. 
Their  rebellion  against  authority  is  illustrated 
by  the  frequent  secessions  of  Poles  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  They  secede  and 
establish  independent  congregations  which  they 
call  the  Polish  Catholic  Church.  There  was 
formerly  such  a  congregation  on  the  southeast 
side,  and  within  the  past  year  one  has  been 
established  in  the  old  Olney  Art  Museum  on 
West  14th  Street. 

Poland  has  given  the  world  several  literary 
and  musical  persons  of  great  eminence.  How- 
ever, the  problem  of  the  Pole  is  one  of  the  most 
difficult  which  America  has  to  solve,  though  con- 
ditions are  better  in  Cleveland  than  in  most 
other  cities.  Much  help  can  be  secured  by  co- 
operating with  the  positive  qualities  which  they 
possess. 

Russians  and  Ruthenians 
These  have  already  been  discussed.  They  belong 
to  the  newer  immigration.  The  Ruthenians  are 
the  only  Slavs  who  are  anti-Russian.    This  is 

67 


because  they  are  generally  Greek  Catholic  and 
have  been  made  to  feel  that  the  Orthodox 
Church  will  be  imposed  on  them  if  Russia  is  in 
control.  Formerly  Galicia,  from  which  they 
came,  was  part  of  Russia  and  Orthodox,  but 
when  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Austria 
the  existence  of  congregations  of  the  Orthodox 
Greek  Church  in  large  numbers  was  thought  to 
be  dangerous  to  the  government.  The  result 
was  that  the  Roman  Church,  in  return  for  their 
acknowledgment  of  the  headship  of  the  Pope, 
allowed  them  to  retain  intact  their  Orthodox 
ritual  and  their  married  clergy.  This  was  the 
origin  of  the  Greek  Catholic  or  Uniate  Church. 
The  church  interior  and  the  service  are  hardly 
distinguishable  from  the  Orthodox  Church,  yet 
allegiance  is  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
This  makes  a  complex  situation  which  cannot 
fail  to  have  interesting  developments  in  the 
future. 

Roumanians 
No  large  group  of  immigrants  is  less  known  than 
the  Roumanians,  who  have  come  to  America  in 
very  recent  years.  They  have  come  almost  ex- 
clusively from  Austria-Hungary,  and  like  the 
Ruthenians  belong  to  the  Orthodox  and  Greek 
Catholic  churches.  There  is  a  strong  tendency 
to  organize  along  national  lines.   At  the  recent 

68 


dedication  of  a  Roumanian  church  on  Buckeye 
Road  the  tenor  of  the  priest's  remarks  was  that 
they  should  drop  the  use  of  Magyar,  which 
many  know  better  than  Roumanian,  and  main- 
tain the  integrity  of  the  Roumanian  ideas. 
The  Roumanians  claim  to  be  descendants  of 
the  Romans,  who  colonized  their  region  and 
their  language  has  a  large  proportion  of  Latin 
roots.  Nevertheless  their  sympathies  are  pre- 
vailingly Slavic. 

Slovaks 
As  has  been  said  above,  the  Slovaks  are  lin- 
guistically closely  related  to  the  Bohemians,  but 
unlike  them  they  have  never  known  political 
freedom.  They  have  had  less  contact  with  the 
modern  currents  of  the  world,  and  have  thus 
preserved  more  of  the  old  customs  and  tradi- 
tions. They  have  little  literature  of  their  own, 
but  several  of  their  writers  have  written  in 
Bohemian.  They  come  from  Northern  Hungary, 
and  the  effort  to  Magyarize  them,  which  has 
been  constant  and  especially  severe  in  recent 
years  and  which  is  the  cause  of  the  large  im- 
migration, has  resulted  in  great  bitterness  and 
increasing  devotion  to  their  language. 


69 


Slovenians 
The  Slovenians  or  "Griners"  come  from  south- 
ern Austria  where  they  had  been  almost  German- 
ized. They  have  come  in  large  numbers  to 
Cleveland  in  the  last  15  years.  They  have  been 
highly  illiterate  and  are  almost  all  Catholics. 
The  clergy  in  Austria  is  prevailingly  in  favor 
with  the  government  and  has  kept  down  rather 
than  stimulated  national  feeling.  Here  in 
America,  however,  there  is  a  growing  feeling  for 
the  right  of  national  freedom  in  Europe. 

Other  Nationalities 
It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  in  detail  the  other 
nationalities  represented  in  our  public  schools. 
There  are  some  facts  common  to  all  these  which 
have  been  described,  the  most  striking  of  which 
is  the  great  number  of  mutual  benefit  societies, 
all  of  which  have  a  certain  social  and  national 
value.  For  example,  the  Slovenians  have  72 
such  societies.  Some  are  for  men  alone,  some 
are  for  women  alone,  and  some  for  men  and 
women.  In  the  National  Bohemian  Hall  on 
Broadway,  68  societies,  clubs,  and  lodges  meet 
every  month.  The  Jews  have  at  least  150  Ver- 
eins,  as  well  as  more  comprehensive  organiza- 
tions, such  as  the  Hebrew  Relief  and  Socialist 
and  Zionist  clubs.  The  same  thing  runs  through 
every  nationality. 

70 


The  object  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  see  her 
group  from  the  inside  as  it  sees  itself.  In  this 
way  not  only  will  sympathetic  relations  be 
established,  but  human  values  recognized  which 
cannot  be  comprehended  when  seen  from  the 
outside.  Dr.  Edward  A.  Steiner's  books,  while 
perhaps  glorifying  the  immigrant  overmuch, 
will  be  of  great  value  in  arousing  respect. 


Summary 
The  success  of  the  teacher  in  dealing  with  for- 
eign children  depends  in  no  small  measure  on 
her  personal  relations  with  them.  In  order  that 
the  most  effective  work  may  be  done,  it  is  essen- 
tial that  the  teacher  should  know  something  of 
the  history  and  characteristics  of  the  different 
national  groups.  The  object  of  this  chapter  is 
to  present  in  brief  outline  some  of  the  more  sig- 
nificant facts  concerning  each  one  of  the  leading 
nationalities,  and  to  give  in  addition  references 
to  the  most  reliable  and  interesting  books  con- 
cerning them. 


71 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  THE 
FOREIGN  CHILDREN 

The  problem  of  educating  children  of  recent  for- 
eign origin  divides  itself  into  two  major  phases 
and  almost  innumerable  minor  ones.  The  two 
main  divisions  of  the  problem  have  to  do  re- 
spectively with  education  for  the  recently 
arrived  non-English-speaking  children;  and 
with  the  far  greater  number  of  children  scattered 
throughout  the  school  system  who  come  from 
homes  where  English  is  not  spoken  but  who 
have  themselves  acquired  some  facility  in  the 
use  of  the  language  and  some  familiarity  with 
American  customs  and  standards. 

Steamer  Classes 
Fifteen  years  ago,  in  1901,  the  Cleveland  school 
system  first  recognized  the  necessity  of  mak- 
ing special  provision  for  teaching  English  to 
recently  arrived  immigrant  children.  In  that 
year  the  principal  of  Harmon  School  organized 
the  first  class  for  non-English-speaking  children 
and  termed  it  a  "Steamer  Class"  because  it  was 

72 


made  up  of  pupils  who  had  come  to  Cleveland 
directly  from  the  steamer  which  brought  them 
to  this  country.  The  name  has  persisted  and 
ever  since  that  day  the  special  classes  for  non- 
English-speaking  children  in  the  day  schools 
have  been  known  as  steamer  classes. 

The  value  of  this  educational  innovation  soon 
became  apparent.  Children  who  cannot  speak 
English  are  misfits  in  the  regular  grades.  They 
must  be  given  an  opportunity  to  learn  the 
language  before  they  are  placed  in  a  class  of  40 
or  more  other  children  and  expected  to  carry  on 
regular  grade  work.  Unfortunately,  the  steamer 
class  cannot  become  a  very  effective  instrument 
for  assisting  recently  arrived  immigrant  chil- 
dren until  further  provisions  are  made  for  trans- 
porting such  children  to  these  special  classes 
whenever  they  happen  to  enroll  in  schools 
where  provision  for  teaching  them  has  not  been 
made. 

Under  the  present  arrangements  steamer 
classes  are  organized  in  the  schools  that  regu- 
larly receive  large  numbers  of  new  immigrants. 
Here  they  meet  an  important  need,  but  they  do 
not  help  the  pupil  whose  parents  have  found 
a  place  to  live  a  little  removed  from  the  other 
recent  arrivals  and  so  have  sent  their  children 
to  a  school  where  there  are  not  enough  foreign 
children  in  attendance  to  warrant  the  establish- 

73 


ment  of  special  classes.  This  is  one  of  the  prob- 
lems which  the  school  system  has  never  satis- 
factorily solved. 

At  the  present  time  such  cases  are  often 
handled  in  a  most  unsatisfactory  manner.  The 
non-English-speaking  child  cannot  keep  up  with 
his  companions  in  the  regular  grades.  For 
this  reason  he  is  sent  to  a  special  class,  but  if 
there  is  no  steamer  class  available,  the  pupil  is  all 
too  frequently  assigned  to  the  backward  class. 
This  is  not  because  the  backward  class  is  the 
right  place  for  him,  but  rather  because  it  fur- 
nishes an  easy  means  of  disposing  of  a  pupil 
who,  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  is  an  unsat- 
isfactory member  of  a  regular  grade,  holds  back 
the  other  pupils,  and  makes  the  teacher's  work 
more  difficult  and  less  effective. 

Attention  has  already  been  directed  to  some 
of  these  problems  in  the  report  of  the  Survey 
entitled  "Schools  and  Classes  for  Exceptional 
Children. "  That  report  discusses  cases  in  which 
mentally  deficient  children  are  assigned  to  for- 
eign classes,  and  normal  foreign  children  to 
classes  for  backward  pupils  because  the  school 
organization  has  not  been  sufficiently  flexible 
and  sufficiently  discriminating  to  examine  each 
child  carefully,  diagnose  his  case  accurately, 
and  then  see  to  it  that  he  is  assigned  to  a  class 
which   will   give   him   the   particular   sort   of 

74 


instruction  he  needs  and  that  he  is  transported 
to  such  a  class  if  one  is  not  available  in  his  own 
building. 

The  truth  is  that  the  problem  of  teaching  for- 
eign children  to  speak  English  has  never  been 
regarded  by  the  public  schools  as  one  of  their 
serious  problems.  Although  classes  for  these 
children  have  been  in  existence  for  the  past  15 
years,  it  is  only  during  the  past  two  years  that 
the  statistical  summaries  of  the  annual  school 
reports  have  shown  the  number  of  pupils  and 
teachers  in  them.  Moreover,  during  the  entire 
period  of  15  years  the  work  of  these  classes  has 
never  been  of  sufficient  importance  to  receive 
mention  in  the  annual  reports  of  the  superin- 
tendent and  board. 

The  data  that  are  available  indicate  that  in 
1913  there  were  15  classes  with  more  than  400 
children  enrolled.  In  1914  and  1915  the  number 
of  classes  was  about  25  and  the  number  of 
pupils  a  little  over  700.  Toward  the  close  of 
1915  these  figures  were  very  much  reduced  be- 
cause the  European  war  resulted  in  largely 
cutting  off  the  stream  of  immigration  to  this 
country.  The  effects  of  the  war  were  still  more 
fully  felt  in  1916  so  that  in  the  spring  of  that 
year  almost  all  the  steamer  classes  had  been 
suspended. 

The  educational  officers  of  the  city  have  never 
75 


worked  out  any  special  methods  for  teaching 
English  to  these  non-English-speaking  children. 
There  is  no  special  supervision  of  the  work  and 
no  provision  in  the  Normal  School  for  training 
teachers  to  do  it.  As  a  result  the  classes  are  far 
less  efficient  than  they  should  be.  There  is  a 
special  educational  technique  for  teaching  a  new 
language  which  is  far  different  in  its  methods 
from  that  employed  in  teaching  subject  matter 
to  pupils  in  their  own  language.  This  has  been 
amply  demonstrated  in  the  special  classes  of 
several  of  our  cities,  notably  New  York  and 
Boston,  and  still  more  strikingly  illustrated  in 
the  schools  of  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines, 
in  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of  children  are 
taught  the  English  language  so  effectively  that 
they  successfully  carry  on  their  entire  school 
work  in  it  after  a  remarkably  short  period  of 
special  teaching. 

The  school  systems  of  these  insular  possessions 
have  developed  methods  of  language  teaching 
incomparably  more  effective  than  those  in  use 
in  our  American  school  systems  and  vastly 
more  efficient  than  any  commonly  employed 
in  our  high  schools  or  colleges.  In  the  lesson  of 
their  experience  the  fact  which  stands  out  with 
most  impressive  clearness  is  that  the  problem 
of  teaching  children  a  new  language  is  one  of 
great  difficulty  when  attempted  by  traditional 

76 


school  methods  and  one  of  remarkable  ease  and 
celerity  when  the  proper  special  methods  are 
employed. 

In  view  of  the  great  importance  of  English 
teaching  in  the  schools  of  Cleveland,  the  Board 
of  Education  ought  to  take  vigorous  steps  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  this  work.  Two  steps 
are  urgently  needed.  The  first  is  to  secure 
a  supervisor  thoroughly  conversant  with  the 
most  effective  methods  of  teaching  English  to 
non-English-speaking  children.  Through  the  ser- 
vices of  such  a  supervisor  a  trained  corps  of 
teachers  could  soon  be  developed. 

The  second  important  step  is  to  provide  the 
administrative  readjustments  necessary  to  put 
every  non-English-speaking  child  into  a  special 
class,  even  if  this  involves  transportation  from 
one  district  to  another.  In  this  connection 
special  care  should  be  taken  to  avoid  assigning 
foreign  children  of  normal  mentality  to  back- 
ward classes  or  backward  English-speaking  chil- 
dren to  foreign  classes. 


English-speaking  Children  from  Non-Eng- 
lish-speaking Homes 
It  has  already  been  shown  that  more  than  half 
of  the  children  in  the  schools  of  Cleveland  come 
from  non-English-speaking  homes.   A  study  of 

77 


the  figures  showing  how  these  children  are  dis- 
tributed through  the  different  grades  and  among 
the  various  schools  leads  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  only  uniform  condition  permeating  the 
entire  situation  is  the  universal  heterogeniety 
of  the  school  population.  There  are  very  few 
schools  indeed  having  anything  approaching  a 
homogeneous  student  body.  In  every  school 
there  are  children  from  non-English-speaking 
families,  and  in  most  of  them  these  children  are 
divided  among  a  large  number  of  nationalities. 
Moreover,  some  schools  have  large  numbers  of 
foreign  children  in  the  upper  grades  while  in 
others  they  are  mainly  in  the  lower  ones.  In 
some  schools  one  nationality  predominates 
among  the  older  children  and  another  among 
the  younger  ones.  The  school  population  is  a 
synthesis  of  the  most  varied  elements.  Tables 
5  and  6  are  introduced  to  show  the  numbers  of 
children  of  the  more  important  nationality 
groups  in  the  different  schools  from  which  data 
were  gathered  by  the  Survey. 

A  study  of  Table  5  reveals  conditions  that  are 
not  only  interesting,  but  constitute  a  very  puz- 
zling educational  problem.  The  data  were 
gathered  from  98  elementary  schools.  In  a 
majority  of  cases  the  children  from  non-English- 
speaking  homes  outnumber  those  from  English- 
speaking  homes.    It  would  thus  seem  on  first 

78 


TABLE  5.— CHILDREN   IN   LEADING    NATIONALITY   GROUPS   IN 

EACH  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  ON  BASIS  OF  THE  LANGUAGE  OF 

THE  HOME 


School 

A 

a 
be 
a 
W 

a 

03 

a 

B 
3 

o 

24 

A 

•3 

a 

a) 
1 

0J 

A 
O 

n 
1 

a 
.2 
*3 

03 

u  a 
a  03 

7 

A 
tn 

~o 

oj 
> 
O 

53 

O  O 

"3 
0 
H 

Addison 

508 

7 

547 

Alabama 

42 

65 

"6 

1 

"2 

3 

94 

"2 

91 

306 

Barkwill 

139 

15 

359 

10 

523 

Bolton 

910 

82 

"8 

45 

"2 

"3 

"l 

'60 

1,111 

Boulevard 

361 

84 

39 

27 

"3 

14 

9 

537 

Broadway 

436 

33 

15 

2 

3 

258 

68 

815 

Brownell 

248 

11 

"8 

1 

650 

1 

1 

"6 

38 

964 

Buhrer 

491 

110 

3 

10 

5 

3 

7 

9 

638 

Case 

220 

252 

3 

20 

44 

46 

165 

750 

Case- Woodland 

100 

39 

448 

132 

15 

47 

10 

24 

22 

837 

Central 

363 

27 

440 

5 

16 

3 

29 

883 

Chesterfield 

438 

9 

"2 

12 

1 

462 

Clark 

342 

162 

198 

22 

20 

6 

750 

Columbia 

1,043 

28 

"10 

"5 

2 

6 

1,094 

Corlett 

93 

9 

191 

5 

14 

"l2 

'6 

330 

Dawning 

318 

368 

81 

7 

37 

7 

18 

24 

860 

Denison 

895 

85 

11 

6 

2 

2 

3 

84 

1,088 

Detroit 

508 

85 

"  1 

3 

12 

28 

1 

1 

82 

721 

Dike 

277 

58 

659 

3 

15 

2 

49 

1,063 

Doan 

787 

4 

4 

795 

Dunham 

672 

59 

7 

2 

6 

1 

18 

765 

Eagle 

26 

6 

2 

"2 

88 

13 

23 

116 

380 

656 

East  Boulevard 

349 

76 

1 

126 

122 

44 

5 

19 

742 

East  Clark 

306 

23 

1 

13 

5 

59 

407 

East  Denison 

389 

80 

18 

24 

ibo 

"  1 

9 

621 

East  Madison 

487 

164 

1 

6 

3 

8 

15 

39 

260 

983 

Empire 

567 

93 

1 

1 

1 

3 

9 

1 

25 

701 

Fairmount 

400 

6 

1 

192 

1 

3 

603 

Fowler 

282 

56 

248 

2 

10 

'24 

"l2 

3 

637 

Fruitland 

266 

26 

2 

2 

14 

310 

Fullerton 

10 

17 

67 

684 

2 

780 

Giddings 

402 

84 

158 

74 

"4 

24 

16 

85 

847 

Gilbert 

405 

294 

260 

3 

84 

5 

26 

11 

1,088 

Gordon 

414 

128 

7 

3 

15 

2 

19 

588 

Halle 

558 

152 

"4 

4 

5 

6 

4 

13 

746 

Harmon 

34 

4 

31 

1 

542 

2 

4 

59 

677 

Harvard 

218 

33 

38 

2 

415 

3 

5 

714 

Hazeldell 

936 

101 

"4 

4 

"  1 

22 

1,068 

Hicks 

294 

102 

4 

"2 

5 

472 

'36 

114 

42 

1,071 

Hodge 

508 

205 

4 

4 

4 

10 

24 

7 

75 

841 

Hough 

782 

37 

4 

1 

3 

5 

1 

1 

7 

841 

Huck 

169 

114 

166 

2 

18 

2 

471 

Kennard 

162 

33 

847 

1 

63 

17 

"2 

71 

1,196 

Kentucky 

367 

51 

1 

1 

5 

90 

6 

2 

66 

589 

Kinsman 

543 

200 

11 

12 

6 

247 

15 

49 

95 

1,178 

Landon 

692 

87 

4 

2 

2 

7 

16 

810 

Lawn 

374 

61 

1 

"5 

11 

10 

462 

Lincoln 

299 

66 

"l2 

133 

3 

321 

"8 

22 

864 

Longwood 

131 

7 

427 

8 

47 

19 

"3 

3 

6 

651 

Marion 

149 

7 

132 

271 

7 

14 

80 

63 

723 

79 


TABLE  5 

. — (Continued) 

School 

is 

a 

a 
1 

fa 

0) 

o 

-a 

•3 
•a 

a 
3 

1 

0J 

JS 

0 
« 

a 
.2 

"3 

as 

W  C 

0  a 
B 

.a 
.$ 
~o 

42 

75 

1 

22 
28 

09 
O 
53 

"3 

0 
H 

Mayflower 
Memorial 
Memphis 
Miles 
Miles  Park 

127 

300 
415 

380 
488 

34 
130 
67 
32 
49 

494 

34 

2 

12 

122 

49 

184 

15 

1 

2 

37 

28 

33 

16 

2 

1 

98 
6 
2 
1 

35 

136 

336 

9 

12 

13 

1,177 

897 
523 
573 
700 

Milford 
Mill 

Moulton 
Mound 
Mt.  Pleasant 

389 
342 
189 
91 
334 

391 

151 

53 

34 

39 

"8 
"6 

304 

3 

4 

183 

126 

5 

3 

16 

"l8 

51 
5 
5 
1 
2 

2 

4 

20 

256 

2 

47 
"5 

4 
5 

14 
1 

11 

1,193 
521 
301 
566 
543 

Murray  Hill 
North  Doan 
Nottingham 
Observation 
Orchard 

171 
612 
342 
166 
539 

1 

40 

99 

15 

205 

"9 
2 
1 
4 

"2 

3 

10 

5 

1,171 

2 

25 

98 
2 

3 

28 

171 

"3 
"2 

"l3 

5 
20 
70 

9 
39 

1,348 
688 
572 
299 
980 

Outhwaite 

Parkwood 

Pearl 

Quincy 

Rawlings 

245 
582 
170 
418 
62 

58 
6 
49 
84 
61 

1,033 

"lO 
2 

1 

"l7 

138 

4 

8 
4 
2 
6 

50 
1 

23 
537 

9 

'38 

7 

21 

3 

"7 
16 

33 

"5 
24 
21 

1,440 
593 
281 
717 
724 

Rice 

Rockwell 
Rosedale 
Sackett 
St.  Clair 

227 
92 
750 
692 
359 

68 
5 

33 
195 
163 

5 
2 

"3 

347 

225 
5 

27 

'25 
26 
10 

294 
2 

"l7 

16 

5 
2 

"5 
109 

66 

"7 

7 

21 

23 
9 
6 

90 

1,060 
126 
817 

1,173 
762 

Scranton 
Sibley 
South 
South  Case 
Sowinski 

446 
624 
478 
247 
502 

167 
41 
43 
15 

127 

1 
147 

1 

638 

10 

7 
6 

4 

2 

20 

218 

50 

3 

22 
7 
4 
8 

11 
185 

43 
1 

25 

57 

158 

2 

65 

724 
903 
906 
960 
892 

Stanard 

Sterling 

Todd 

Tremont 

Union 

235 
481 
265 
276 
275 

133 
21 
83 

202 
55 

6 
60 
1 
4 
1 

1 

"46 

10 

440 

2 

114 

3 

22 

8 

1 

13 

20 

1 

5 

45 
483 
103 

5 

3 

5 

266 

28 

280 

42 

6 

495 
31 

675 
722 
467 
1,778 
934 

Wade  Park 

Walton 

Warner 

Waring 

Warren 

653 
382 
335 
357 
250 

40 
219 

50 
165 
110 

"  1 

"  1 
1 

"56 
37 

438 

2 
66 
40 

3 

"22 

1 

15 

8 

1 
1 

'21 

87 

20 
55 

23 

8 

8 

50 

12 

719 
775 
471 
612 
961 

Washington  Pk. 

Watterson 

Waverly 

Willard 

Willson 

110 
356 
381 
839 
682 

11 

44 

48 

235 

75 

"3 
3 
1 

131 

"  1 

16 

2 

ibi 

2 

8 
3 

"4 

7 

19 

9 

20 

"3 
1 

"  1 
4 

4 
19 
48 
27 
21 

276 
524 
491 
1,154 
794 

Woodland 
Woodland  Hills 
Wooldridge 

218 
393 

477 

63 
96 
91 

2 
527 

59 

185 

19 

5 
2 

4 

504 

8 

37 

5 
9 

8 

97 

80 
3 

66 
27 
45 

1,019 

800 

1,211 

37,454 

8,118 

6,219 

5,325 

4,493 

3,686 

3,523 

1,558 

4,670 

75,046 

80 


consideration  that  it  would  be  a  comparatively 
simple  matter  to  modify  the  instruction  given 
in  each  school  so  as  to  meet  most  adequately 
the  needs  of  the  pupils.  In  point  of  fact  this  is 
rendered  exceedingly  difficult  by  the  complex 
character  of  the  group  from  non-English-speak- 
ing homes. 


TABLE  6.— CHILDREN  IN  LEADING  NATIONALITY  GROUPS  IN 

EACH  HIGH  SCHOOL  ON  BASIS  OF  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE 

HOME 


ja 

0 

ja 

a 

M 

u  a 

a 

a 

a 

a 

3 

0$ 

--  bu 

03 

School 

a 

J3  2 
«  8 

"3 

C3  05 

a 

"o 

PL. 

> 

53 

rS'S 

oS 

o 

Central 

542 

151 

364 

23 

39 

36 

9 

3 

76 

1,243 

Collinwood 

71 

1 

1 

3 

76 

East  Commerce 

491 

130 

66 

38 

5 

23 

10 

3 

78 

844 

East  High 

1,070 

49 

2 

4 

16 

2 

9 

16 

1,168 

East  Technical 

1,178 

376 

139 

164 

40 

30 

32 

i7 

110 

2,086 

Glenville 

817 

51 

4 

1 

4 

13 

890 

Lincoln 

386 

75 

1 

14 

2 

2 

7 

ii 

16 

514 

South 

431 

60 

107 

2 

42 

5 

25 

672 

West  High 

576 

20 

1 

1 

3 

601 

West  Technical 

763 

180 

24 

2 

4 

4 

17 

994 

Total 

6,325 

1,093 

576 

374 

108 

102 

113 

40 

357 

9,088 

In  the  city  as  a  whole  the  only  homogeneous 
element  in  the  different  school  populations  is 
the  group  of  children  from  English-speaking 
homes.  They  do  not  constitute  a  majority  of  all 
the  children,  but,  except  in  a  few  cases,  they 
constitute  a  larger  group  than  any  other  single 
group.  In  the  entire  city  there  are  26  schools  in 
which  there  is  a  group  of  one  nationality  out- 
6  81 


numbering  the  children  from  English-speaking 
homes,  but  in  most  cases  these  children  do  not 
constitute  a  majority  of  the  children  enrolled  in 
the  school. 

In  only  1 1  schools  are  there  homogeneous  for- 
eign groups  so  numerous  as  to  constitute  more 
than  half  of  the  children  enrolled.  Six  of  these 
schools  have  groups  of  children  from  Yiddish- 
speaking  homes  so  large  as  to  constitute  a  ma- 
jority of  the  whole  school  enrollment;  in  two 
cases  the  Polish  children  are  in  the  majority; 
in  two  cases  the  Italians;  and  in  one  case  the 
Hungarians. 

Such  facts  as  these,  together  with  the  data 
of  Table  5,  indicate  the  great  difficulties  in- 
volved in  attempting  to  modify  instruction  to 
meet  the  special  needs  of  special  national  groups. 
In  a  single  classroom  there  may  be  pupils  of  a 
dozen  different  nationalities.  In  most  of  the 
classrooms  of  the  city  the  largest  single  group 
is  made  up  of  children  from  English-speaking 
homes.  In  only  a  few  cases  are  there  classes  in 
which  practically  all  the  children  are  of  the 
same  nationality. 

Nevertheless  the  very  complexity  of  the  prob- 
lem points  the  way  with  some  definiteness  to 
certain  wise  courses  of  educational  procedure. 
It  is  entirely  certain  that  in  a  city  in  which  a 
majority  of  the  children  are  from  non-English- 

82 


speaking  homes  a  definite  and  conscious  effort 
should  be  made  by  the  school  authorities  to 
acquire  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  na- 
tional origins,  traditions,  histories,  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  more  important  immigrant  groups. 
Teachers  and  principals  should  cultivate  a  more 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  understanding  of 
the  home  problems  and  conditions  of  these  chil- 
dren. 

In  addition  to  these  general  considerations, 
there  are  certain  definite  and  specific  courses  of 
action  which  are  indicated  by  the  conditions 
that  have  been  discussed.  It  is  apparent  that 
the  most  important  subject  in  the  schools  of 
Cleveland  is  English.  This  would  probably 
remain  true  if  there  were  no  foreign  children 
enrolled,  but  under  the  present  conditions  it  is 
doubly  true.  The  one  educational  certainty  is 
that  the  ability  to  read,  write,  and  speak  the 
English  language  easily  and  correctly  is  the 
ability  which  will  conduce  most  effectively  to 
the  moral  welfare,  the  cultural  development, 
the  vocational  prosperity,  and  the  individual 
happiness  of  this  great  mass  of  children  now  in 
the  public  schools  of  this  city. 

Summary 
The  problem  of  educating  immigrant  children 
has  two  major  phases:   teaching  them  English, 

83 


and  teaching  them  after  they  have  learned 
English.  For  the  purpose  of  teaching  them 
English,  Cleveland  began  15  years  ago  the 
establishment  of  steamer  classes,  which  in- 
creased in  number  until  in  the  past  year  they 
enrolled  some  700  children  in  25  classes. 

These  classes  are  valuable  and  fairly  effective. 
Provisions  should  be  made  for  transferring  non- 
English-speaking  children  to  them  when  such 
children  enroll  in  schools  where  steamer  classes 
have  not  been  organized.  The  work  could  be 
rendered  much  more  effective  by  adopting 
methods  of  English  teaching  such  as  have  been 
developed  in  New  York  and  Boston,  or  the 
superior  methods  in  use  in  Porto  Rico  and  the 
Philippine  Islands. 

The  problems  of  furnishing  the  best  schooling 
for  the  foreign  children  after  they  have  learned 
to  speak  English  are  rendered  difficult  by  the 
large  numbers  of  national  groups  and  the  com- 
plex manner  in  which  they  are  scattered  through 
the  schools  all  over  the  city.  The  one  educa- 
tional certainty  is  that  the  most  important  single 
educational  asset  that  the  schools  could  give 
all  the  children,  whether  they  come  from  Eng- 
lish-speaking or  non-English-speaking  homes, 
would  be  a  mastery  of  speaking,  reading,  and 
writing  the  English  language. 


84 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ADULT  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

The  most  important  instrumentality  for  the 
instruction  of  the  adult  immigrant  is  the  public 
night  school.  Cleveland  has  maintained  night 
schools  for  the  past  35  years.  The  first  one  was 
probably  established  in  1880  and  had  as  its 
object  the  instruction  of  boys  and  young  men 
who  had  left  school  early  or  had  not  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  receive  any  regular  education 
whatever.  This  first  school  was  supported  partly 
by  the  Newsboys'  and  Bootblacks'  Home  and 
partly  by  the  Board  of  Education.  Its  work 
proved  so  successful  that  the  Board  took  over 
its  control  and  proceeded  to  establish  other 
similar  schools  elsewhere  in  the  city.  Very  soon 
the  character  of  the  work  carried  on  began  to 
change.  More  and  more  non-English-speaking 
men  attended  until  finally  the  evening  schools 
have  become  almost  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
instruction  of  foreigners  in  the  English  language. 

Evening  Schools  for  Adult  Foreigners 
The  evening  schools  in  Cleveland  have  increased 
in  scope  and  importance  until  they  have  become 
a  large  educational  enterprise,  enrolling  in  the 

85 


school  year  of  1914-15  more  than  11,000 
students. 

These  schools  open  in  October  and  continue 
in  session  for  20  or  22  weeks,  being  open  four 
nights  each  week.  At  the  close  of  the  regular 
term  in  March  most  of  them  suspend  work, 
but  a  few  are  continued  for  a  further  period  of 
several  weeks.  The  experiment  has  even  been 
tried  of  continuing  a  few  of  the  night  schools 
through  the  summer  months.  The  classes  are 
held  in  regular  elementary  school  buildings  and 
about  one-fourth  of  the  teachers  are  also  em- 
ployed as  teachers  in  the  day  schools  while  the 
remaining  three-fourths  are  people  working  at 
other  occupations  during  the  day. 

The  following  data  give  the  principal  facts 
concerning  the  Cleveland  evening  elementary 
schools  for  1914-15. 

Total  number  of  classes 132 

Total  number  of  pupils  registered 11,383 

Range  of  ages 15  to  60 

Average  age 23 

Number  of  nights  in  winter  session 102 

Number  of  buildings  in  use 34 

Number  of  men  teachers 89 

Number  of  women  teachers 43 

Total  number  of  teachers 132 

Teachers  also  employed  in  day  schools 34 

Wages  of  teachers  per  evening $2.00  to  $2.50 

Total  enrollment,  male 9,082 

Total  enrollment,  female 2,301 

Total  enrollment,  both  sexes 11,383 

Average  attendance,  male 3,087 

Average  attendance,  female 796 

Average  attendance,  both  sexes 3,883 

Salaries  of  teachers  in  1914-15 $25,577 

Wages  of  custodians  in  1914-15 $5,626 

Contingent  expenses  in  1914-15 $76 

Total  cost  of  instruction  in  1914-15 $31,279 

86 


Among  the  students  attending  these  classes,  26 
out  of  every  27  are  foreigners.  The  cosmopolitan 
nature  of  the  student  body  is  shown  by  the 
figures  of  Table  7,  which  gives  the  number  of 
students  in  each  of  45  nationalities  enrolled 
during  the  school  year  of  1914-15.  It  will  be 
noted  that  the  total  of  this  table  is  11,402,  al- 
though the  official  records  show  a  total  enroll- 
ment of  11,383.  The  Survey  has  not  been  able 
to  find  the  cause  of  this  slight  discrepancy  as 
both  sets  of  figures  are  from  the  official  records. 


Citizenship  Classes 
In  addition  to  their  regular  work,  the  evening 
schools  established,  two  years  ago,  classes  in 
citizenship  for  the  benefit  of  aliens  desiring 
to  secure  naturalization  papers.  During  that 
winter  these  classes  enrolled  more  than  1,400 
men.  Last  year  the  total  enrollment  was  about 
1,300.  During  the  winter  of  1915-16  the  num- 
ber was  less  than  600.  This  does  not  mean,  how- 
ever, that  during  the  past  winter  600  men  have 
been  in  regular  attendance  at  these  classes. 
This  number  represents  the  total  enrollment  for 
the  school  year,  that  is,  the  number  of  different 
individuals  who  have  joined  the  classes  and  been 
in  attendance  for  any  amount  of  time,  long  or 
short.  During  the  winter  of  1915-16  the  citizen- 

87 


TABLE  7— NATIONALITIES  OF  EVENING  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 
IN  CLEVELAND  IN  1915 


Nationality 

Number 

Magyar 

Hebrew,  Russian 
Austrian 
Polish 
Italian  (south) 

Bohemian 
Slovenian 
Slovak 

1,964 

1,497 

1,259 

982 

762 

632 
428 
351 
349 

American,  wnite 
Lithuanian 

318 

German 
Syrian 
Russian 
Italian  (north) 
Croatian 

300 
274 
266 
260 
252 

Greek 

Hebrew,  Polish 

Hebrew,  other  foreign 

Finnish 

Armenian 

235 
218 
185 
143 
90 

Roumanian 
American  negro 
Bulgarian 
English 
Hebrew,  German 

87 
77 
67 
54 
50 

Swedish 

Dutch 

Ruthenian 

Irish 

Norwegian 

43 
40 
31 

28 
27 

Hebrew,  Roumanian 

Serbian 

Danish 

Swiss 
Macedonian 

26 
20 
16 
12 
11 

Turkish 

Canadian,  English 
Canadian,  French 
French 
Scotch 

9 
7 
6 
6 
6 

Spanish  American 

Japanese 

Moravian 

Chinese 

Welsh 

4 
3 
3 
2 
2 

Total 

11,402 

88 


ship  classes  were  in  session  one  night  each  week 
and  the  attendance,  which  began  with  230  in 
October,  rose  to  nearly  300  two  weeks  later  and 
then  slowly  but  steadily  declined  to  a  little  over 
100  at  the  close  of  March. 

The  motives  which  prompted  the  establish- 
ment of  the  citizenship  classes  are  deserving  of 
the  heartiest  approbation  and  support.  Socially 
and  educationally  this  innovation  is  wisely 
planned  and  worthy  of  continuation  and  exten- 
sion. Nevertheless  the  fact  is  that  these  classes 
are  making  a  most  meager  contribution  toward 
helping  aliens  to  become  American  citizens. 
Their  enrollment  is  progressively  decreasing 
and  their  attendance  is  but  a  small  fraction  of 
their  enrollment.  The  official  records  indicate 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  men  who  enter 
these  classes  become  discouraged  and  drop  out 
after  attending  for  a  few  nights.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly true  that  the  great  European  war  has 
stemmed  the  tide  of  immigration  and  taken  from 
the  city  many  who  might  otherwise  have  been 
in  attendance  at  these  classes.  Nevertheless 
this  cannot  be  the  true  explanation  of  the 
shrinking  enrollment  and  small  attendance. 

During  the  early  months  of  1916  there  were 
from  100  to  200  men  in  attendance  in  the  citi- 
zenship classes.  At  the  same  time  the  number  of 
adult  foreigners  of  voting  age  in  Cleveland  who 

89 


had  not  even  taken  out  their  first  papers  was 
probably  not  less  than  50,000.  Moreover,  the 
number  of  unnaturalized  aliens  in  the  city  has 
been  steadily  and  rapidly  increasing  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  and  has  now  reached  the  point 
where  Cleveland's  record  in  this  matter  is  poorer 
than  that  of  almost  any  other  large  city. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  a  matter 
calling  for  serious  concern  that  the  citizenship 
classes  should  be  shrinking  in  size,  that  most  of 
their  students  drop  after  a  few  nights  of  at- 
tendance, that  the  official  records  of  the  work 
fail  to  indicate  how  many  of  the  students  who 
take  the  course  succeed  in  securing  their  nat- 
uralization papers,  and  that  the  attendance 
amounts  to  less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent 
of  the  men  in  the  city  to  whom  such  classes 
should  make  their  strongest  appeal. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  members  of  the  Survey 
Staff  the  causes  of  these  unsatisfactory  condi- 
tions are  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  in- 
struction given  in  these  classes.  The  trouble  is 
that  the  teaching  does  not  follow  any  well  ma- 
tured plan  and  is  not  skilfully  done.  It  suffers 
from  the  same  sorts  of  weaknesses  that  restrict 
the  value  of  the  instruction  given  in  the  regular 
evening  schools.  The  nature  of  these  short- 
comings is  considered  in  detail  in  the  following 
section. 

90 


Quality  of  Instruction  in  Evening  Schools 
It  appears  that  the  educational  officials  of  the 
Cleveland  school  system  are  highly  satisfied 
with  the  quality  of  the  work  done  in  the  evening 
elementary  schools.  In  the  printed  report  for 
1914,  and  again  in  that  for  1915,  the  city  super- 
intendent and  the  supervisor  of  evening  schools 
inform  the  public  that  "Our  evening  schools 
rank  high  as  to  quality  and  amount  of  work 
done,  and  are  very  much  superior  to  nearly  all 
of  those  in  other  cities  in  regularity  of  atten- 
dance and  much  lower  in  cost  per  capita." 

It  is  impossible  for  the  members  of  the  Survey 
Staff  to  share  the  optimism  of  the  superin- 
tendent and  supervisor  in  this  matter.  During 
the  course  of  the  Survey  66  visits  have  been 
made  by  five  members  of  the  Survey  Staff  to 
evening  elementary  classes.  As  a  result  the  con- 
clusion has  been  forced  upon  these  observers 
that  the  work  done  in  these  classes  is  very  far 
from  ranking  high  in  either  quality  or  amount. 
While  there  are  many  enthusiastic  teachers  and 
hundreds  of  eagerly  conscientious  pupils,  the 
classroom  work  exhibits  an  almost  total  lack 
of  unified  plan,  matured  method,  and  intelligent 
direction.  The  trouble  is  that  the  teaching 
methods  have  not  been  intelligently  adapted  to 
the  needs  and  abilities  of  the  pupils. 

The  typical  characteristics  of  the  work  are 
91 


well  illustrated  by  that  observed  in  five  suc- 
cessive classrooms  in  one  school  visited  in  March, 
1916.  The  pupils  were  almost  entirely  young 
foreign  men  of  from  25  to  30  years  of  age.  Many 
of  them  were  employed  in  one  of  Cleveland's 
great  steel  manufacturing  establishments.  They 
were  not  illiterate,  but  they  had  almost  no 
knowledge  of  English.  They  were  all  weary 
from  their  day's  work  and  they  kept  awake  only 
by  the  exercise  of  apparent  effort. 

In  the  first  of  the  five  classes  a  writing  lesson 
was  being  conducted,  and  these  husky  laboring 
men  were  busily  engaged  in  copying,  "I  am  a 
yellow  bird.  I  can  sing.  I  can  fly.  I  can  sing 
to  you." 

In  the  second  class  the  teacher  was  barely 
able  to  talk  English  and  the  work  was  almost 
entirely  conducted  by  the  translation  method. 
The  teacher  made  several  fruitless  attempts  to 
get  the  pupils  to  speak  English.  He  did  this  by 
telling  them  repeatedly,  "Think  the  sentence 
in  your  own  language  and  then  try  to  translate 
it  into  English."  After  this  had  failed  to  pro- 
duce satisfactory  results,  the  teacher  gave  it 
up  and  had  them  read  a  selection  about  making 
pickles  from  cucumbers. 

The  third  class  was  taught  by  a  bright  young 
foreigner  who  had  apparently  received  a  classi- 
cal education.    The  work  was  conducted  just 

92 


as  are  many  classes  in  Latin.  The  teacher  spoke 
English  almost  perfectly,  and  although  his  pupils 
could  neither  speak  nor  understand  it,  he  care- 
fully explained  to  them  about  inflections,  voices, 
moods,  tenses,  numbers,  and  persons.  He  then 
told  them  they  that  were  to  conjugate  "  to  have  " 
and  "to  be."  After  this  was  explained  to  them 
in  their  own  language,  the  pupils  all  went  to  the 
board  and  began  to  write  "I  have,  thou  hast, 
he  has,"  and  "I  am,  thou  art,  he  is,"  etc.  The 
teacher  explained  that  "art"  was  the  second 
person  singular,  indicative  mood,  present  tense, 
of  the  substantive  verb  "be."  After  this  the 
class  had  a  reading  lesson  from  the  third  reader 
about  a  robin  that  said,  "God  loves  the  flowers 
and  birds  too  much  to  send  the  cold  to  freeze 
them." 

In  the  fourth  room  the  pupils  had  a  reading 
lesson  about  "Little  drops  of  water,  Little 
grains  of  sand."  They  then  had  a  spelling  lesson 
of  the  words  in  the  reading  selection.  The 
teacher  was  interested,  vivacious,  and  expended 
a  great  amount  of  nervous  energy  in  talking  very 
rapidly  and  almost  incessantly.  She  took  up 
most  of  the  time  with  her  own  activity  and  most 
of  the  pupils  could  not  understand  what  she  was 
talking  about. 

In  the  fifth  and  last  class  the  teacher  was  also 
most  voluble  and  talked  more  than  all  the  stu- 

93 


dents  combined.  It  was  a  reading  lesson  and  the 
14  men  present  were  engaged  in  reading  a  selec- 
tion beginning 

"Oh,  baby,  dear  baby, 
Whatever  you  do, 
You  are  king  of  the  home 
And  we  all  bend  to  you." 

Similar  examples  might  be  multiplied  from  the 
written  records  of  the  work  observed  in  the 
evening  classes,  and  classes  of  the  sort  described 
may  be  seen  by  any  one  who  will  take  the  time 
to  visit  the  evening  schools  of  the  city.  Perhaps 
the  most  impressive  characteristic  of  it  all  is 
that  every  teacher  appears  to  be  entirely  free 
to  teach  whatever  he  pleases  by  any  methods 
that  he  wishes  to  use.  The  lessons  assigned  and 
the  methods  employed  in  the  different  rooms 
are  astonishingly  varied.  There  seems  to  be  no 
effective  supervision,  no  plan  for  improving  the 
teachers  in  service,  and  no  effort  to  find  out 
which  of  the  many  methods  used  produces  the 
best  results. 

Reorganization  Essential 
In  the  opinion  of  the  Survey  Staff  it  is  essential 
that  the  evening  elementary  school  work  of 
Cleveland  be  reorganized.  Some  of  the  results 
of  the  work  as  at  present  conducted  are  revealed 
by  the  attendance  records.  The  data  for  the  22 

94 


weeks  of  the  regular  term  of  1915-16  are  shown 
in  Table  8  and  Diagram  7.  They  refer  to  the 
evening  elementary  schools  and  the  citizenship 
classes.  They  show  that  when  the  classes  opened 
in  October,  some  2,800  students  enrolled  and 
almost  all  were  actually  in  attendance.  A  month 
later  the  enrollment  had  increased  by  2,500,  but 
the  attendance  was  only  500  greater  than  at  the 
beginning.  This  means  that  even  in  the  first 
few  lessons  large  numbers  of  the  students  had 
become  discouraged  and  dropped  out. 

From  this  point  on  the  enrollment  steadily 
increased,  showing  that  new  pupils  were  con- 
tinually joining  the  classes,  but  the  number  be- 
longing and  the  number  in  actual  attendance 
steadily  decreased,  indicating  that  other  pupils 
were  dropping  out.  By  the  end  of  the  regular 
term  in  March,  the  enrollment  was  more  than 
7,000,  while  the  attendance  was  only  a  little 
over  1,000. 

Moreover,  there  is  evidence  pointing  to  the 
probability  that  the  loose  methods  of  record 
keeping  used  in  this  part  of  the  school  work 
result  in  reporting  conditions  somewhat  more 
favorably  than  the  facts  warrant.  Under  the 
present  regulations  a  class  is  suspended  when 
the  attendance  falls  below  15.  Upon  the  occa- 
sions of  visits  to  the  classes  the  pupils  present 
were  counted  by  the  Survey  visitors  and  in  a 

95 


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large  number  of  cases  fewer  than  15  were  found 
present  on  the  night  of  the  visit,  although  the 
number  reported  at  the  central  office  as  the 
average  for  that  week  was  always  15  or  over. 


TABLE  8—  TOTAL  ENROLLMENT,  NUMBER  BELONGING,  AND 

AVERAGE    ATTENDANCE    IN    THE    EVENING    ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOLS  OF  CLEVELAND  DURING  THE  22  WEEKS  OF   THE 

REGULAR  SESSIONS  OF  1915-16 


Week  ending 

Total  enrollment 

Belonging 

Attendance 

October       14 
21 

28 

2,834 
4,044 
4,694 

2,831 
4,001 
4,314 

2,487 
2,947 
3,122 

November    4 
11 
17 
24 

5,233 
5,545 
5,655 
5,655 

4,276 
4,223 
4,074 
4,069 

2,908 
2,971 
2,157 
2,817 

December     3 

9 

17 

23 

5,700 
6,001 
6,115 
6,188 

3,818 
3,723 
3,690 
3,766 

2,868 
2,391 
2,210 
2,108 

January        6 
13 
20 
27 

6,252 
6,399 
6,458 
6,515 

3,586 
3,076 
2,818 
2,739 

2,231 
1,881 
1,780 
1,813 

February      4 
10 
17 

24 

6,746 
6,810 
6,910 
6,960 

2,610 
2,423 
2,239 
2,091 

1,742 
1,614 
1,461 
1,360 

March           3 

9 

16 

7,040 
7,043 
7,048 

2,031 
1,735 
1,673 

1,331 
1,203 
1,191 

These  discrepancies  would  be  possible  on  the 
supposition  that  the  visitor  almost  always  hap- 
pened to  call  on  a  night  when  the  attendance 
was  lower  than  it  was  for  the  three  other  even- 
ings of  that  week.  However,  it  seems  more 
probable  that  the  record  keeping  is  not  entirely 
accurate.  The  following  comparison  shows  for 
7  97 


the  first  10  classes  in  the  list  compiled  by  the 
Survey  the  number  counted  on  the  evening  of 
the  visit  and  the  number  reported  for  that  class 
on  the  official  record  as  being  the  average  at- 
tendance for  that  week. 

Count  Official  report 

14 15 

19 19 

11 15 

12 15 

10 15 

8 16 

32 32 

18 25 

16 24 

21 21 

Whatever  the  facts  may  be  with  regard  to  the 
accuracy  of  the  reports,  the  important  features 
of  the  situation  are  that  the  attendance  in  the 
night  classes  is  very  much  less  than  the  enroll- 
ment and  that  great  numbers  of  immigrants 
enter  the  classes,  become  discouraged,  and  drop 
out  after  a  brief  attendance.  Cleveland  has 
been  repeatedly  told  that  there  were  more  than 
10,000  students  enrolled  in  the  night  schools. 
Probably  few  citizens  have  realized  that  this 
number  represented,  not  students  in  school,  but 
rather  names  in  books.  They  have  not  realized 
that  a  count  of  all  the  students  actually  present 
on  any  pleasant  evening  during  the  middle  of 
the  term  would  have  shown  only  about  one- 
third  of  that  number  and  that  a  count  near  the 

98 


close  of  the  term  would  have  shown  one-fifth 
or  less.  \ 

The  tragic  part  of  the  situation  is  that  every 
year  thousands  of  earnest  and  hopeful  foreigners 
flock  to  the  night  schools  in  keen  anticipation 
of  learning  English,  and  after  a  few  weeks  be- 
come discouraged  and  drop  out  because  the 
teachers  do  not  meet  their  needs.  Since  they 
cannot  understand  what  is  going  on,  their  inter- 
est flags.  As  the  weeks  pass  by,  physical  weari- 
ness overcomes  them  more  and  more  each  night. 
Finally  they  sink  into  despondency  and  dis- 
couragement as  they  see  their  cherished  dream 
of  mastering  the  new  language  depart.  This 
is  no  matter  of  casual  import  for  these  men  and 
women.  They  are  not  children  and  most  of 
them  are  not  students.  Concentrating  their 
minds  on  the  lesson  implies  painful  effort.  If 
this  intense  application  does  not  bring  them 
within  a  few  weeks  some  results  that  the  im- 
migrant can  appreciate  he  begins  to  realize  that 
his  constructive  ideal,  his  dream  of  becoming  an 
American,  his  opportunity  for  success  in  the 
new  land,  are  not  to  be  attained  through  the  y 
public  school. 

These  men  and  women  of  the  evening  schools 
have  no  abstract  zeal  for  knowledge.  They  are 
interested  in  the  immediate,  the  concrete,  and 
the  practical.    They  resemble  children  in  that 

99 


they  are  ignorant  and  need  help,  but  they  are 
mature  in  ideas  and  realizations  and  keenly 
conscious  of  specific  needs.  This  is  why  they 
cannot  be  interested  in  inflections  and  tenses 
and  why  they  are  not  gripped  or  thrilled  by 
reading  about  the  beautiful  posies  and  the 
pretty  birdies.  They  want  to  learn  to  talk 
English,  and  they  can  be  kept  interested  only 
so  long  as  they  can  use  each  day  what  they 
learned  the  night  before. 

There  are  70,000  people  in  Cleveland  who  can- 
not speak  English,  and  there  are  few  social, 
civic,  or  educational  problems  more  important 
than  to  make  it  possible  for  this  tenth  of  the 
city's  population  to  understand  and  communi- 
cate with  the  other  nine-tenths.  The  number  of 
unnaturalized  adult  foreign  men  is  nearly  as 
large  as  that  of  the  non-English-speaking  in- 
habitants. Moreover  these  conditions  are  be- 
coming worse  rapidly  and  steadily.  Again 
Cleveland  makes  a  poorer  showing  in  these 
respects  than  any  other  large  city. 

For  these  reasons  the  Survey  deems  it  essen- 
tial that  the  elementary  evening  schools  of  this 
city  should  be  reorganized  so  as  to  do  efficient 
work  in  teaching  English  to  foreigners.  What 
is  most  needed  is  leadership.  One  thoroughly 
competent  supervisor,  charged  with  responsi- 
bility for  making  the  work  efficient,  and  given 
100 


greatly  increased  power  in  the  selection,  train- 
ing, and  direction  of  his  assistants,  could  work 
a  rapid  reform  in  the  whole  situation.  While 
increased  appropriations  are  needed  for  supplies 
and  for  teachers,  they  are  not  nearly  so  im- 
portant as  skilled  and  enterprising  leadership. 
Cleveland  should  profit  by  the  example  of  other 
cities.  The  school  authorities  here  should  know 
what  Detroit  has  accomplished  within  the  past 
year  in  dealing  with  this  same  problem.  Board 
members  and  educational  officials  should  care- 
fully read  the  report  entitled,  "The  School  and 
the  Immigrant,"  recently  published  by  the  New 
York  Department  of  Education.  A  careful  ex- 
amination should  be  made  of  the  20  different 
books  and  sets  of  books  telling  how  to  teach 
English  most  successfully  to  foreigners.  The 
city  cannot  afford  to  be  indifferent,  or  inefficient, 
or  contented  in  its  attitude  toward  helping  its 
aliens  to  help  themselves. 


Summary 
The  evening  elementary  schools  of  Cleveland 
have  been  in  existence  for  35  years.  At  the 
present  time  their  total  enrollment  each  year 
is  in  the  neighborhood  of  10,000.  The  classes 
are  open  during  about  20  weeks,  four  nights  a 
week.  Almost  all  the  students  are  foreigners 
101 


and  their  main  object  is  to  learn  English.  In 
addition  to  their  regular  work  the  evening 
schools  have  established  classes  in  citizenship. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Survey  Staff,  based  on 
visits  to  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  classes, 
the  work  in  the  evening  elementary  schools  falls 
far  short  of  being  well  and  efficiently  conducted. 
The  records  of  attendance  show  that  only  a 
small  proportion  of  those  who  enroll  remain 
more  than  a  few  weeks.  Many  thousands  begin, 
become  discouraged,  and  drop  out.  It  is  the 
conviction  of  the  members  of  the  Survey  Staff 
that  a  reorganization  of  this  evening  elemen- 
tary school  work  is  essential.  The  most  im- 
portant factor  in  reorganization  is  efficient 
leadership. 


102 


CLEVELAND  EDUCATION  SURVEY  REPORTS 

These  reports  can  be  secured  from  the  Survey  Committee  of 
the  Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  They  will  be 
sent  postpaid  for  25  cents  per  volume  with  the  exception 
of  "Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools"  by  Judd, 
"The  Cleveland  School  Survey"  by  Ayres,  and  "Wage  Earn- 
ing and  Education"  by  Lutz.  These  three  volumes  will.be 
sent  for  50  cents  each.  All  of  these  reports  may  be  secured 
at  the  same  rates  from  the  Division  of  Education  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  New  York  City. 

Child  Accounting  in  the  Public  Schools. — Ayres. 

Educational  Extension — Perry. 

Education  through  Recreation — Johnson. 

Financing  the  Public  Schools — Clark. 

Health  Work  in  the  Public  Schools — Ayres. 

Household  Arts  and  School  Lunches — Boughton. 

Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools — Judd. 

Overcrowded  Schools  and  the  Platoon  Plan — Hart- 
well. 

School  Buildings  and  Equipment — Ayres. 

Schools  and  Classes  for  Exceptional  Children — Mit- 
chell. 

School  Organization  and  Administration — Ayres. 

The  Public  Library  and  the  Public  Schools — Ayres 
and  McKinnie. 

The  School  and  the  Immigrant — Miller 

The  Teaching  Staff — Jessup. 

What  the  Schools  Teach  and  Might  Teach — Bobbitt. 

The  Cleveland  School  Survey  (Summary) — Ayres. 


Boys  and  Girls  in  Commercial  Work — Stevens. 

Department  Store  Occupations — O'Leary. 

Dressmaking  and  Millinery — Bryner. 

Railroad  and  Street  Transportation — Fleming. 

The  Building  Trades— Shaw. 

The  Garment  Trades — Bryner. 

The  Metal  Trades— Lutz. 

The  Printing  Trades — Shaw. 

Wage  Earning  and  Education  (Summary) — Lutz. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  834  341    o 


